Shades of Gray
by Feral Phoenix
Summary: Nothing in life is ever so simple as black and white or good and evil. And whether she likes it or not, that's a lesson Yggdra Yuril Artwaltz is going to learn as the captive of the Imperial Army. spoilers, pairing hints but no pairings
1. Prologue

Shades of Gray

DISCLAIMER: Don't own Yggdra Union, or certain people wouldn't have gotten killed. As I think we all know by now. Eheh.

Despite the heat of the conflagration behind her, Yggdra couldn't stop shaking as Milanor carefully shepherded her away from the ruin of the once-proud Castle Bronquia back towards their army. She could barely see, couldn't think—she could only feel. She could only feel the cold sweat on her hands as, even now, they tightly clutched the hilt of the Holy Sword, could only feel the blistering heat of the still-steaming blood that had splattered her dress and face and dripped from her blade, could only feel the sting of numb tears as they built in her eyes, threatening to cascade down her cheeks and never stop.

She could only feel the horror and deep, wrenching grief in her heart as the soft, pained voice she'd heard echoed over and over again in her mind.

**I guess most people have some kinds of regrets in life, don't they?**

Yggdra bit her lip and fought desperately against tears.

**But now that it comes down to it… I just can't believe it's going to end like this.**

Oh, God, it felt like her heart was being torn out of her chest. Like the last time. _Worse _than the last time. So, so much worse.

**I mean… I'm still young. I thought I was going to have so much more time.**

Her troops were cheering, but she could barely hear it; it was as though the shock was a thin layer of felt that had been wrapped over her ears, like some sort of macabre bonnet. Nothing seemed as _real _as that voice, the memory of the heartbeat she'd felt pulsing through the Gran Centurio as she'd fought.

**I thought I'd be able to change things for my people, to do some real good.**

"Hey, Yggdra, say something," Milanor was murmuring to her. "They need to know you're okay. _I _need to know you're okay. Don't flip out on us now."

She turned towards him, hardly even seeing the worry in his eyes.

**I thought I'd be able to live to be old, enjoy the benefits of the throne a little. I thought I'd get to fall in love. Do it all. But… it all just seems so pointless now that my family is gone.**

"Yggdra, talk to me," Milanor said, taking her by the shoulders and shaking her a little. "It's over. D'you understand? It's over, you don't need to fight anymore. Fantasinia's safe now."

**I never thought… it would actually come down to this. …I… don't want to die here, but… if it can save my people…**

**I'd do anything to save my people.**

It might as well have been _her _voice—that was the real horror of it. How many times over this long and hellish war had she had almost those exact thoughts?

**I just—wish I could tell everyone how sorry I am for getting them mixed up in this.**

"Yggdra?" Milanor leaned in a little. _"Yggdra?"_

Yggdra bowed her head. "I… I-I…"

"Yggdra, what is it? You've gotta tell us! What's wrong? It's _over! _You don't have to worry anymore!"

She let the Gran Centurio fall from her bloodstained hands, and buried her face in them.

"It was—it was just like Welheim back there, Milanor…"

"What?" He drew back half a step. "What do you—what d'you mean, Yggdra…?"

"It was like Rosary… I-I… I could hear his voice, Milanor… I heard his heart through the Holy Sword… I-I… I…! I always knew… because all that time, I _saw, _even though I didn't want to… oh, Milanor, it was the same! He was the same as we are! And I… and I…"

She pulled her hands away with an effort, staring up at her most steadfast companion since the war's beginning out of horrified eyes.

"Yggdra…" Milanor squeezed her shoulders, wearing a tormented expression.

She just couldn't hold it back any longer. With a muffled wail, she collapsed against him, her weight dragging them both to the ground as she sobbed into his chest.

"Oh, God… oh, God…" Wretched and grief-stricken and all but mindless with guilt, Yggdra shook her head as Milanor put a supportive arm around her shoulders. _"What have I done…?"_

"…Hang in there," Milanor said softly. Heedless, Yggdra continued to cry.

"Forgive us… oh, God, please… forgive me, Gulcasa…!"

:TBC:


	2. Trauma

Shades of Gray

See disclaimer in the Prologue

As the sounds of rain filtered through her consciousness, Yggdra moaned and opened her eyes.

She hurt all over, and she felt dizzy and a little nauseous. Shaking her head a little in a pitiful attempt to ease the way it pounded, she tried to reach up and push her sodden hair out of her face, but her hands were stuck behind her in something and she couldn't move them.

Confused, Yggdra tugged. Her skin chafed against the leaden texture of sopping wet rope.

Shock jolted her into wakefulness, and as she began to pick up the sounds of camp being made and soldiers' voices, the memories came flooding back.

_The battle for Paltina was won—but Gulcasa had gotten away, and I found him on Machina Bridge… and then…_

_The ambush!! _Yggdra went cold with terror. _Milanor and the others—Roswell, Durant, Nietzsche, Kylier… my guards…?! Oh, God… please let them have escaped…! If my foolishness brought them to any harm…_

Shivering with the wet and the fear, the captive princess looked around.

They seemed to be on the outskirts of a forest—the wooded area near Castle Karona, Fantasinia's northernmost settlement, and the border of the untamed region of Marduk perhaps? Here in the dark, it was hard for Yggdra to get her bearings. Her hands were bound behind her back, and she was kneeling a short distance away from a circle of Imperial valkyries, two dragons, and a pair of armored knights arranged around a fire. As Yggdra watched, feeling fury smolder deep in her chest, one of the two unstrapped his pauldrons and hauberk and set them on the ground beside him, raking back his long, wet crimson hair with both gauntleted hands.

Red hate pounded at Yggdra's temples. Gulcasa—the Emperor of Carnage, the horrible man who'd been behind her parents' deaths and the slaughter of so many of her people… the one who'd feigned injuries far worse than those he actually had in order to lure her into a trap and kidnap her.

As she watched, resisting the urge to grind her teeth in impotent ire, the other dragon knight peeled back his sovereign's ripped-up black undershirt to reveal an ugly gash along Gulcasa's side. "Your Majesty, we can't afford to wait here much longer," he said, plainly worried. "We must get this seen to as soon as we possibly can."

Yggdra remembered how Gulcasa had favored that side during their battle and felt vindictively glad that he _hadn't _been faking all his injuries.

_I hope you don't treat it for weeks and it gets gangrenous, you coward, _she seethed inwardly, though she kept her mouth shut.

Gulcasa sighed, looking strained and weary. "I can wait a little longer… the messenger from the others should get here soon, as long as there weren't any problems. Though it would be just like that thrice-damned Resistance to get in our way again."

"Against Leon, Baldus, the Scarlet Princess, _and _Eudy, Your Majesty? I doubt it," the knight said with an effort at a supportive smile.

"Nessiah should be back soon too, and then we'll have to leave. Otherwise we'll all get yelled at, and he'll nag me half-mad every second we stay still," Gulcasa replied with a shallow laugh. "…That's the only drawback to having him on mop-up duty, even if he did suggest it himself."

"Still, this isn't good," one of the valkyries remarked. Even as far away as she was, Yggdra recognized the fair, cold-eyed blonde as the vicious Imperial commander Aegina, who had hassled her Royal Army since they'd first raised the White Phoenix and sworn to free Paltina. "Your wounds from the conquest weren't done healing yet, and she hit the same spot, too. This is going to set the schedule for the blood samples back a few days, and if you don't get treated, you'll get sick."

"Well, if nothing else, we have to give the girl credit—she hits exactly like her old man," Gulcasa said wryly, shaking his head. Yggdra's heart seized painfully at the casual mention of her father, and felt tears burn her eyes. _Don't you even talk about him, _she wanted to scream. _What gives you the right?_ "…Don't worry so much. It isn't even a day's ride to Karona if we hurry, and Derek's medical division is on call. Besides, if it gets too bad, Russell can probably be persuaded to let us use Flone. Whatever else can be said for her, she's a first-rate cleric."

There was the rustle of foliage and the pounding of hooves, and Gulcasa removed his shirt from his knight's grasp and pulled it back down, standing with a groan as an armed horseman bearing the Imperial banner broke into the small clearing.

"I bring a message for His Majesty from General Baldus," the man proclaimed.

"Give your report," Gulcasa said with a nod as Aegina and the other dragon knight got up as well.

"All troops have withdrawn safely to Karona and await your orders. The castle is now fortified by Magister Eudy's bombardiers, Inzaghi's mercenaries, and General Russell's support squadron. The other Dragon Generals and unit commanders are ready to move out as soon as you arrive."

"Good, good." Gulcasa sighed. "No trouble with the Karona Resistance?"

"None, Your Majesty—not after their last defeat. The soldier Cruz and his men seem to be attempting to regroup within Marduk."

"Don't bother them—with the bounty and the number of casualties reported, they're no longer much of a threat," Gulcasa said dismissively. "Any word from any of the others?"

"Ah, Her Highness the Scarlet Princess—er, General Emilia—inquires after your well-being and sends word that if anything happens to you out here, she'll kill you," the horseman said awkwardly.

Gulcasa laughed. "So typical of her. Well—you've done a good job, soldier. Rest here for a while, and then return to your post at Karona."

"Return messages, Your Majesty?" the man asked, still not dismounting.

"Do we want Russell's squad here as extra protection?" Aegina asked, looking her Emperor up and down shrewdly.

"No—your squad and Nessiah's should be more than enough. Besides—after the Verlaine affair, I doubt we should keep pushing Russell. You know being a part of that business upset him, and I don't want him to get involved with our plans for Princess Yggdra. Hostage or no, there's only so much we can ask of him, and he's needed at Karona."

Aegina shook her head and sighed, then sat down.

"As for a message, tell Baldus that Nessiah's backup plan is proceeding smoothly. Oh—and make sure to assure Emilia that I'm still in one piece."

"Your Majesty…" the messenger said even more awkwardly than before, staring pointedly at the bloodstains on Gulcasa's clothes and armor.

"Better to get scolded later than have Emilia rush out here in full force now," Gulcasa said simply. "Now get off your horse and take a breather."

The messenger complied. Yggdra tried to wiggle into a better position and weighed her chances of escape if she was quick. No one seemed to be paying her any mind, after all… maybe she could get away if she ran?

A sudden crash behind her made her jump with a soft yelp, her heart hammering. As she watched, another dragon knight—presumably the second of Gulcasa's two bodyguards—came crashing through the trees, wide-eyed and pale-faced. "Your Majesty!"

Gulcasa turned to him. "You're back sooner than I expected. Is everything alright? You were supposed to go get Nessiah and his division and bring them back here. What happened?"

"Your Majesty—" The dragon knight dismounted; Yggdra noticed that he had something rolled up under his arm. "Your Majesty…" He shook his head helplessly, as if at a loss for words.

"Well, don't just stand there, man, spit it out," Gulcasa ordered impatiently. "Was someone wounded? Do we need to send doctors back to help?"

"Your Majesty, it's—General Nessiah's troops were, they were…" He shook his head again. "They were… slaughtered to a man, Your Majesty…!"

Blank, horrified shock crossed the Emperor's face. Half an instant later, his knees seemed to give out, and he crumpled where he stood—he would have sprawled onto the forest floor had his other bodyguard not caught him and borne him up with a worried cry.

Dead silence, but for the rain. Yggdra knew now was her best chance to escape, but despite herself, she couldn't move—she was riveted to the spot where she knelt, watching to see what would happen.

_"What?" _The word came out as a strangled plea, instead of the sharp demand Yggdra suspected it was supposed to have been.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty," the newly arrived knight said numbly. "They're—they're all gone, every single soldier. I personally accounted for them all. The… the Royal Army seems to have suffered no casualties. They'd already retreated to the castle when I got there."

"No…" Aegina swore, lurching to her feet with fisted hands. "That's not possible! How could they do this and then escape without a single scratch?!"

_"What about Nessiah?"_ Gulcasa said in that same horrible pleading tone. If he'd been any other man, the terror in his voice would have broken Yggdra's heart.

But he was Gulcasa. Her enemy.

_I must not pity my enemy, _Yggdra thought bitterly, and hardened her soul against him with all the hatred she could muster.

The dragon knight looked at the ground. "He's… he was… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"How?" Gulcasa asked huskily.

"He was…" The man sighed and shook his head. "Your Majesty…"

"I need to know how," Gulcasa insisted, and there was steel in his voice, apparently enough to remind the knight who he was talking to and what his emperor was capable of.

"General Nessiah was… when I found him, it looked like… he'd been run through, and either the injury to the internal organs or blood loss…" the man explained slowly. "I—did a sweep of the area, checking to make sure there were no survivors, that I hadn't miscounted, and—when I got back, the… the body was gone. So was his spellbook."

"Then—"

The knight shook his head firmly. "There was—there was no blood trail. And—damn it, he couldn't have still been alive. Not with wounds like that. It's more likely someone came along, and decided to… to…"

"…Loot the corpse," Aegina finished, then winced and turned guiltily to Gulcasa with an apologetic-looking grimace.

"…………" Gulcasa just shook his head silently, raw grief written all over his usually impassive face.

"I did find this…" the dragon knight said, and brought out what he'd held tucked under his arm. Yggdra squinted and inched forward, wanting to see—it looked like an old, yellowed page from a big book, and it was splattered with blood.

Regaining his footing a little, Gulcasa reached out and brushed his fingers against the sheaf of paper, shaking his head. "…Nessiah…"

Then, without warning, he turned and looked _right at her, _his molten-gold eyes so hot with hate that she couldn't help but jolt back in fear. "Are you proud of your little army, Princess?" he asked in an inhuman snarl, taking a threatening step towards her. _"Well? _Are you proud of their accomplishments? Are you happy with what they do?"

Through terror, Yggdra clutched the threads of her pride, and managed to raise her chin. "They're the best, the truest, the most loyal and just army in the _world."_

Gulcasa's eyes flashed, and as his knights yelled protests, he was striding towards her, rigid with barely contained wrath. As Yggdra wondered numbly what had possibly possessed her and if she'd just signed her own death warrant, her sworn enemy grabbed the front of her dress, pulled her to her feet, and slammed her back against the treetrunk she'd awakened against.

"Your so-called _'just' _army has murdered my best friend," he growled through gritted teeth, mad hate dancing with blind rage on his face. "What possible justice is there in such wanton slaughter?!"

"Well be it for _you _to ask," Yggdra shouted, pride rearing up again. "Unhand me, you coward!"

Gulcasa hissed, slammed her against the tree again, and then released her, punching the thick, gnarled trunk not six inches from her face. She heard the bark crack under his gauntlet, and trembled as he pulled away, cursing and massaging his knuckles.

"Your Majesty, stop," one of the knights begged, alarmed. "You're—you're going to hurt yourself…"

"I'll silence the girl if you like, Your Majesty," Aegina offered coldly, holding out her rapier.

Slowly, bitterly, Gulcasa shook his head. "…No. As much as I'd love to do it myself—we can't afford to. We still need her, damn it. And now… we can't let Nessiah's sacrifice be in vain." With that, he walked back to the fire and sat down, his shoulders hunched moodily in the light, steady rain.

"…Your Majesty…"

"And keep that damned girl _quiet."_

One of the dragon knights walked towards Yggdra as she collapsed back to the ground, still shaking. "Just do as you're told and keep your mouth shut," he said softly. "His Majesty is distraught."

"That man killed my parents, and I'm expected to show him sympathy?" Yggdra hissed, but she kept her voice down.

"You really don't know anything, do you?" the dragon knight asked incredulously, shaking his head. "It was payback for what your parents did to _his."_

_"What?" _Yggdra demanded, going white.

"It would be disrespectful to His Majesty to say any more. Just stay here and shut up," the man advised, and headed back to his fellow soldiers.

Yggdra shook her head, but didn't say a word. Overhead, thunder pealed.

It was going to be a long night.

:TBC:


	3. Caged

Shades of Gray

See disclaimer in the prologue

The light rain that had been a steady but not bothersome patter when Yggdra had awakened had become a complete downpour in less than an hour. The Imperial soldiers' campfire had promptly been extinguished, and as there wasn't any other choice, they'd all taken refuge under the trees. Aegina, assuming command, had sent the messenger on back towards Karona while Gulcasa had sat silently, staring off into the distance with an unreadable expression. As Aegina's guards worriedly watched the sky for any signs of close lightning strikes, Gulcasa's bodyguards split their duties—one stayed near the Emperor, while the other one kept an eye on Yggdra. Now that she was awake, it seemed, they were taking no chances with her.

As soon as the rain had lessened, Gulcasa had stood up and announced to everyone that they were moving on. Yggdra, it was decided, would march with Aegina's valkyries. When she'd dug her heels in and refused, Gulcasa had turned to her and offered with a mild tone and an expression that was anything but to knock her out again and carry her to Karona over the front of his dragon's saddle. Bitterly, Yggdra had resigned herself to behave. After Gulcasa's outburst, she'd realized it wasn't wise to bait her enemy now.

And so they'd marched in silence, taking breaks only every few hours. Yggdra's feet were killing her. Usually her own army would make longer stops than five minutes to breathe and send out scouts. Still, she hadn't brought it up, since Aegina had already remarked on one such break that she was only slowing them down and should be carried like the baggage she was.

Gulcasa's bodyguards had hushed her, but Yggdra got the feeling that if she didn't keep up, they'd think she was being slow on purpose and really _would _hogtie her and knock her senseless.

But, thankfully, the skies were slowly drying, and Castle Karona was now in sight.

"Finally," muttered one of Aegina's soldiers. Yggdra mentally agreed but said nothing.

The castle's drawbridge creaked down and hit the stone road, sending a covey of soldiers out into the open. Among them were two of Gulcasa's remaining generals, the God of War Baldus and the Scarlet Princess Emilia.

"Your Majesty…!" called one of the soldiers. "Welcome back, Your Majesty!"

"At ease," Gulcasa said wearily, waving one hand at his men.

As their troop approached the edge of the drawbridge, Baldus stepped forward and bowed his head respectfully. "Your Majesty… the messenger told us what happened. No words can adequately convey our sorrow for your loss. You must be exhausted—please take what time you have here to rest."

"We don't _have_ much time," Aegina said bitterly. "We destroyed Machina Bridge so that only dragon riders or undines could possibly make it through the river, but… there are other ways around. The Royal Army won't be happy that we've got their princess, so we'll have to move on again quickly."

"With all due respect, Commander, we must make allowance for His Majesty. He's in no state—" Baldus began to protest.

"She's right," Gulcasa interrupted, dismounting from his dragon with a sigh. "We've got a few days, maybe less, and then we've got to move. Baldus, I'm entrusting the defense of the castle to Russell, Inzaghi, Eudy, and Luciana. Once we're gone, you're to take your troops back to Ft. Ishnad and hold that gate with all the strength you have. If the Royal Army captures your post while I'm busy with the ritual, we'll have a tough time getting back home."

"Yes, sir," Baldus replied, though he gave his emperor a parentally disapproving look.

"Oniisama…"

Yggdra turned to look at Emilia, who was standing by herself with fisted hands and deep sadness in her bright golden eyes.

"Emilia…"

Without another word, the Imperial Princess ran to her brother and flung her arms around his waist. Gulcasa went white and gasped in pain, drawing back with hunched shoulders and his hand clamped tightly over his side, where blood was starting to ooze from under his torn shirt and battered armor.

"You're hurt…!" Wide-eyed, Emilia tried to pull her brother's hand away.

Gulcasa cursed. "It's nothing. Just a scratch. I'll have it seen to later."

Sensibly, Emilia didn't pay his words any heed. Instead, she glared up at him. "You should have had the messenger tell us that you'd gotten injured!"

"Emilia, please. I can't deal with this right now."

"Well, first things first, we've got to get you fixed up." Emilia turned around and gave the soldiers meaningful looks. "Go tell Derek and the other doctors so they'll be ready!"

"Emilia…"

"You can't rest and get your strength back if you're hurt," she told him.

"Besides, if you lose too much blood, we won't be able to take any more, and that'll be the end of our backup plan," Aegina put in.

"Stop ganging up on me," Gulcasa growled, but he looked more tired than angry.

"If… if Nessiah were here…" Emilia hesitated, then went on, looking teary-eyed. "If Nessiah were here with us, he'd be telling you the same thing we are! Stupid! You'll only make it worse!"

"…………" Gulcasa sighed. "Fine. Fine. I'll go let Derek take a look. _Then_ will you leave me alone?"

Emilia looked up at her brother reproachfully, but didn't say anything.

"Hey… one last thing before we drag you off… where are we putting _her?"_ Aegina wanted to know, pointing at Yggdra, who flinched.

"The tower," Gulcasa answered without looking at her. "I'm sure Flone will enjoy some company other than Russell for once. Go on—take her up. Everyone else, rest while you can. We're moving out shortly."

"Come ooooooon," Emilia sulked, grabbing Gulcasa's hand and tugging him inside.

"…………" Yggdra watched them go with a strange feeling of anxiety.

"Stop staring and let's go," Aegina growled, grabbing her by the shoulder and pulling her towards Karona as the soldiers marched back indoors along with them.

---

Aegina and a detail of soldiers propelled Yggdra quickly through Karona's outskirts and into the castle itself, marching her up the winding stairs of a tower. Once they were at the top, they barely gave Yggdra the time to stare at the contents of the room—a wide and mostly empty row of prison cells—before forcing her towards the west end of the room, opening one barred door, and pushing her in.

As Yggdra looked about uncertainly, Aegina stepped into the cell with her, retrieved a chain fixed to the wall, and bound the shackle attached to it to Yggdra's left ankle. The inside of the binding was padded so that it wouldn't chafe and cause sores, but its solid grip told Yggdra that there would be no getting out of this room until someone unlocked it. She was stuck.

"Welcome to your new home for the next few days," Aegina informed her brusquely, turning the captive princess around and finally starting to undo the rope that had bound her hands since she'd first awakened. "That chain's long enough for you to explore in full. Latrine's in the corner if you need it. Someone will come up three times a day for meals. Don't expect any fancy treatment. The only reason I haven't killed you yet is because you're to be a part of the Ritual of Soul Unbinding."

"Ritual of…?" Yggdra repeated faintly. She didn't know what that was supposed to be, but she didn't like the sound of it.

"Don't ask questions," Aegina ordered, backhanding Yggdra across the face. "Just stay put and shut up. And if you give His Majesty _any _trouble when we move on, I swear I'll tan your hide." With that, she dusted her hands off, looking at Yggdra as though she was something revolting, and stalked off. The soldiers swung the door to Yggdra's cell shut, locked it, and left with their commander.

Yggdra felt a wet trickle down her face as her cheek started to sting and hesitantly brushed her hand across her lips. It came away bloody. With a sigh, Yggdra tried to ignore the incessant throbbing where Aegina's strike had split her lower lip and rested her hands on the bars before her. This felt as much a cage as a prison, and she was already starting to feel claustrophobic.

"Oh, dear… Aegina's in a bad mood today, isn't she?"

Yggdra turned, surprised, to see a young woman in the cell next to hers—the one on the very end of the row, along the west wall instead of the north—standing in a similar position at her own door.

"Who…?"

"You're the princess, aren't you?" the woman asked with a smile. As Yggdra nodded, she inclined her head a little. "Your Highness. I'd say it's a pleasure to meet you, but under these circumstances… it worries me to see you in a place like this."

"Begging your pardon, ma'am, but… who are you…?" Yggdra asked slowly, examining her new companion. The older girl was very beautiful, with long, wavy fawn-brown hair and lilac-colored eyes, wearing a dress of pastel green and blue and, beneath it, white petticoats.

"Excuse me, Princess. I'm Flone, and I've been here ever since Karona fell," the woman said.

"Miss… Flone," Yggdra repeated. This was the person Gulcasa and the other Imperial soldiers had talked about, the one they'd said was a skilled cleric. "But… what are you doing in here?"

"I'm afraid it's a bit of a long story," Flone replied. "Still… it isn't as though we don't have plenty of time in here, right? You see… Russell, whom I know you've fought against recently, is my fiancé."

"Russell? The Dragon General?" Yggdra shook her head. "Why would the Empire… want to imprison the fiancée of one of their generals?"

"I'm not surprised you never heard," Flone said graciously. "We of Karona know how His Majesty the King tried to keep you out of the war and everything to do with it. Russell used to be the general in charge of the defenses of this castle when it was still in Fantasinian hands. When the Emperor and his troops captured it, Gulcasa asked Russell to join his army instead, out of respect for his great strength. But Russell was too loyal to the Royal Family, and refused. Rather than killing Russell and losing a potential ally, Gulcasa and his generals put me here, so that Russell would have no other choice but to fight for them."

Hearing it made Yggdra's heart hurt. "Oh… using a hostage to force General Russell to fight against us? What a horrible thing to do…"

"I've been treated well, and Russell is often allowed to see me here, but… I worry about him, having to fight the Royal Army. He's told me all about all of you in his visits," Flone said with a smile. "It's made him happy, knowing that Fantasinia still has real hope against Bronquia."

"It would have more if I hadn't gotten so careless," Yggdra said with a shake of her head, looking down at the floor in shame. "Oh, I hope everyone is alright."

"How _were _you captured, anyway? The last I heard, the Royal Army was fighting the Emperor's forces for possession of Paltina. If you're here, does that mean…?"

"We won the battle, and routed every Imperial soldier. It's just… when I'd heard that Gulcasa had escaped, I… I was so angry that I just ran out after him without thinking. He led me into an ambush, and one of his generals waited for my friends to try to rescue me, then attacked them. I heard at the camp Gulcasa and his troops made that Milanor, Roswell, and Nietzsche destroyed their attackers, but…"

"…I see…" Flone shook her head sadly. "So… they'll come looking for you, and this place will become a battleground once again… War is such a painful thing. It may be Karona's fate to remain drenched in blood as long as it lies on the border between Fantasinia and Bronquia, but… I wish there was some way for the Empire and the Kingdom to resolve their differences peacefully."

"So do I… and yet, what else can we do?" Yggdra asked, looking at her hands. "After all the lives they've taken, after all the innocent towns that have been destroyed by their attacks… what else can we do but try to bring those people justice?"

"…………" Flone rested her elbows on the bars, giving Yggdra a considering look. "Princess, you… may not be in the right state to hear this, and it may not even be my place to say, but… I've been here for quite a while, and so I've been able to see both sides of this war. Even though we have all been taught that justice lies with the Holy Sword… the soldiers of the Imperial Army also believe that they fight for a just cause. Russell has told me so much about you, it's like I know you all, and I know that everyone in the Royal Army has a kind heart, and lost a great deal, but… there are kindhearted people and those wronged by the Kingdom fighting for the Empire, as well. And when two opposing forces each believing in their own justice fight this way… there's never an ending so happy as to achieve both ideals."

Yggdra listened silently. Part of her wanted to argue with what Flone was saying, but the older girl's words disturbed her. She couldn't help but remember the slaughter of the Undines at Embellia, who had attacked humans because they thought it was the only way they would survive, and how horrible and wretched she'd felt when she and her army had come to the decision to kill Rosary and her forces at Verlaine. The Holy Sword could only be used to fight for good, but… had her actions those times really been just?

Heaven knew that her decisions then would haunt her all her life.

There were footsteps on the stairs again, and Yggdra looked up to see a young man and woman in the red and white uniform of the Empire's doctors and healers leading Gulcasa and his two bodyguards down towards Yggdra and Flone's cells.

As Yggdra felt her gut clench in the predictable surge of hate she always felt when she saw her enemy, she watched them carefully, confused. The two doctors both looked annoyed, but weren't saying anything. While Gulcasa's bodyguards were still wearing their armor, neither of them had their scythes with them; the Emperor of Carnage himself had taken off his armor and had loosely fastened a voluminous scarlet cloak over the battered black shirt and red pants he'd been wearing since the previous day. Through the rips in his shirt, Yggdra could see that his wound had been bandaged.

"We're sorry to disturb you, Miss Flone, but we need your assistance," one of Gulcasa's bodyguards said, bowing to her and undoing the lock on her cell.

"Is there someone I need to help treat?" Flone asked, looking confused.

"You've been on call a few times already when we've taken blood, but…" One of the doctors, the man, looked back at his emperor disgustedly. "We're really going to need your help now."

"His Majesty's injuries weren't serious, but he's lost a lot of blood on the way back, and he's almost too weak to give any more," the girl continued for her coworker, joining him in glaring at Gulcasa.

"There's no time," Gulcasa said bluntly. His voice sounded strange to Yggdra; she noticed that his eyes were half-closed and his gaze seemed somewhat unfocused. He was definitely out of it, and if he were one of her troops, Yggdra would be ordering him in no uncertain terms to go sit down before he fell over.

But given the circumstances, Yggdra wasn't saying anything. If he fainted and fell on his face, it would certainly give her something to laugh at, and heavens knew she hadn't had much of that in a long time.

"Oh, dear…" Flone shook her head. "You really shouldn't. You're all in, and you need a few hours of bed rest before you should even be up and walking around. You're going to make yourself much worse."

Gulcasa shook his head distantly but stubbornly. "Two samples… no less. Else we won't have enough by the time the Royal Army comes."

"We tried persuading him otherwise, but _you _know," the young doctor said with a shake of his head. "The day you manage to convince himself here not to carry out the self-injurious parts of his plans is the day they put up a statue to you on the Arc of Triumph. This one's as pigheaded as they come."

Flone made a face. "Where's General Nessiah? He's the only one who can ever talk His Majesty out of anything once he's made up his mind, and believe me, he needs to be talked out of this like never before."

That awful grief crossed Gulcasa's face again, and he looked down. Yggdra's insides clenched with a sympathy she wanted to fight but couldn't. "…Nessiah was… we lost him in the retreat from Paltina."

Flone covered a gasp as guilt and sorrow widened her eyes. "No… I'm so, so sorry, Your Majesty. I shouldn't have said… I didn't know. Forgive me. I'm so sorry." Shaking her head, she turned to Gulcasa's bodyguards and the two doctors he'd brought. "He _needs _to rest. He's grieving himself sick, anyone can see it. Taking blood when he's in this state is too dangerous."

"There's no other option. Do it. I don't care about the consequences," Gulcasa said harshly.

"You see?" the doctor said, shaking his head. "We can't convince him, so we need your help. Just try to keep him in a state so he's got some time to get back to his rooms before he passes out from blood loss."

Flone shook her head, but sighed. "I'll do it," she said reluctantly. "But, Derek, he's going to need to be half-carried out of here. You military folk like to tough things out far too much for your own good."

Yggdra watched as Gulcasa's bodyguards braced him and the Emperor offered his left arm. The doctor named Derek pulled his cloak back, nodded to his assistant, and moved aside to let her pull a cord along Gulcasa's bicep to make his veins stand out. Flone edged out as far as her chain would let her, holding her hands a few inches from Gulcasa's chest.

Derek shook his head, then took an empty syringe and slid the needle into an artery, slowly pulling the stopper back so that the syringe filled with bright red blood. Gulcasa's face contorted with pain, and as he lowered his head and curled his shoulders in to stand it, Flone sighed and reached out to touch him, her palms emitting a soft glow. When the first syringe was full, Derek took out a second one and did the same with it, selecting a second artery. Gulcasa let out a muted cry, but bore it.

Derek stepped away with the two filled syringes in hand, his assistant undoing the cord and following him. Flone remained where she was for a moment, then pulled her hands away. Gulcasa leaned on his guards, white and shaking, as two thin ribbons of blood spilled down his arm to drip onto the floor with the same hissing sound of boiling water hitting something cold.

"You'd better get him out of here, he's only got ten minutes or so before he's out," Flone said disapprovingly.

"Thank you," one of the two guards said over Gulcasa's shoulders as the three of them did an awkward about face. Derek gently shepherded Flone back inside her cell and closed the door, then followed, taking his assistant with him.

After they were gone, Yggdra turned to Flone with a look of bafflement on her face. "Excuse me… but… what was all that about? I don't understand…"

"I don't have all the details myself, but…" Flone shook her head. "A while ago, General Nessiah and General Baldus decided that they needed to train a decoy to take Gulcasa's place in situations where they need to get the real one away quickly. This is supposed to be a part of it."

"By… taking blood…?" Yggdra was completely lost.

"I was never on the battlefield myself, but… even I have heard about Gulcasa's Genocide technique." Flone closed her eyes and bowed her head. "From what I understand, it's impossible without Gulcasa's blood."

"And without the ability to use that technique, it would be obvious that a fake was fighting in his place," Yggdra finished. "But—_why?"_

"I don't know," Flone replied honestly.

Yggdra sighed and sat down in the corner of her cell, tucking her skirts around her ankles and hugging her knees. There were so many things she wanted to ask, and Flone seemed to be willing to answer her questions—she just had no idea where she should start.

Finally, she looked up at Flone and spoke. "Who… who was Nessiah?"

Flone sat down as well, leaning against the bars of her cell and looking out the small window near the top of the west wall. "Russell told me the story, since it's become something of a legend in the Imperial Army. Apparently… in the few months between the completion of Gulcasa's coup and his formal coronation as the Emperor of Bronquia, the country was very unstable, and suffered a great deal from bandits and those loyal to the previous emperor attacking towns and killing civilians. Most of the victims died, since Gulcasa's army was spread too thin to catch the attackers in time. But once when Gulcasa and his guards were out on patrol, they came upon a mage who'd been caught up in one of those attacks and was still alive. That was Nessiah. Gulcasa brought him back in to the Bronquian capital city, Flarewerk, and treated him; when the Imperial Army fought to recover the Bronquian crown from the mountain tribes that had taken it, Nessiah went with them, and ever since, he's been considered the strongest of the five Dragon Generals."

"The strongest…" Yggdra felt a little faint, thinking of how close Milanor, Roswell, and Nietzsche had likely come to dying without ever knowing it. They'd been lucky to escape with their lives.

"No one really knew who he was or where he came from, only that he was exiled from the land where he was born and has been wandering ever since. I only met him once or twice. And… Princess, even before he came to Bronquia, he was horribly crippled somehow. He was blind, and covered in chains that they say couldn't be broken.

"I suppose… the real answer to your question, though, is that Nessiah was Gulcasa's close friend and military advisor. If you saw Gulcasa around the castle, you knew that Nessiah would also probably be nearby somewhere. That's why he's taking all this so hard. You know what it's like to lose someone close…"

"Yes," Yggdra said softly. The bleak despair, the overpowering rage, the heartrending grief. The helplessness of not being able to change your loved ones' fate. Even now, Yggdra occasionally caught herself wondering why the world hadn't died along with her parents; her life was so empty without them.

"This will probably affect the direction of the Imperial Army now, as well, although you'd have to ask Russell just how much they'll change. Gulcasa is a notorious idealist, and the other Dragon Generals usually don't oppose his plans too much. Nessiah was a cynic. And you heard us just now—he was always the one to keep Gulcasa from doing stupid things.

"Either the Imperial Army will lose its edge without Nessiah's guidance—or Gulcasa will be so changed by hate and loss that he'll start fighting desperately instead of rationally. Either way… either way, Russell will be in more danger than ever before." Flone shook her head and closed her eyes. "I'm… so afraid for him. I don't know what I'll do if anything happens to him."

"…Really…" Yggdra closed her eyes and tried to organize her thoughts. She couldn't make up her mind how she felt about all this—between fear for herself, pride in Milanor and the others for triumphing against the odds, disbelief at Flone's characterization of Gulcasa (an _idealist? _Since _when?)_, confusion that the girl was willing to help the army that had imprisoned her, and unease at the statement that the Imperial Army also thought they fought for justice, there was something else, something worse. It was that pity again, that pulse of empathy deep in her heart, that complete understanding she so wanted to cast aside that told her exactly how wretched Gulcasa was feeling right now, and made her want to feel sorry for him.

She had to fight that feeling. He'd killed her parents. He was the enemy, and even if something sad had happened to someone close to him, that didn't change the fact that he was the evil she had to destroy.

Pity had no place in a situation like this.

Yggdra curled up tighter and leaned her face against her knees, miserable and wishing she'd never tried to go after Gulcasa alone in the first place. If she hadn't, then none of this would ever have happened.

She would still be at home, with Milanor and Roswell and everyone else.

In that moment, she truly hated herself.

:TBC:


	4. Perception

Shades of Gray

See disclaimer in the prologue

Yggdra spent the next two days in that prison, and aside from the chaos and slaughter that had been the fall of her castle, they were the worst two days of her life. She'd definitely lived a cloistered childhood—she'd hardly been let out of her parents' sight until she'd turned seven or eight—but at least then, she'd been able to move freely within her bounds. The cell was unbearably small. Yggdra had to fight not to return to her childhood habit of nail-biting out of sheer claustrophobia. As it was, she paced endlessly. The latrine was torture, as nothing made the knowledge that Flone was in the next cell over go away. Yggdra had what soldiers referred to jokingly as a "shy bladder"; she wanted privacy, couldn't get it, and had to resolve herself, red-faced and deathly embarrassed, to her corner when she knew she really couldn't take any more. It didn't matter that there was a nice, thick brick wall between her and Flone. There was another person nearby.

Yggdra was just lucky no soldiers had ever come by when she was there. She would have died right on the spot from sheer shame.

The food wasn't _bad, _but it wasn't _good, _either. Too many spicy things, not enough sweet. Although the princess didn't complain aloud, Flone saw and correctly interpreted the dismal look on Yggdra's face as she poked at her prison cuisine and explained patiently that the tastes of most Bronquian knights tended towards meat and spices rather than sweetened dishes, as were usually prepared in Fantasinia. She also said that Yggdra would get used to it eventually.

Yggdra privately thought she'd rather refuse it and go hungry, but ate what she'd been given regardless. She had to keep her strength if she hoped to find some means of escape.

Without Flone, Yggdra would have suffered unbearable boredom. With Flone, she suffered unbearable awkwardness. The princess just couldn't understand why the imprisoned cleric was so sympathetic to her captors, especially after all they'd done to ruin her relationship with Russell. The Astral Fencer came in for one visit while Yggdra was there, and spent an entire hour talking to Flone through the bars of her cell, interlacing his fingers with hers and clearly aching to really reach out and hold her. Yggdra felt so sorry for the two of them. It just didn't seem fair.

Why didn't Flone see it that way?

It was as strange as the number of Imperial soldiers brought up to Flone's cell for healings—treatments of severe wounds and exhaustion, mostly—and how readily she performed workings for them. It was care, genuine care at its best, and Yggdra did not understand how she could display such acceptance, such understanding.

Gulcasa came four times over the period Yggdra stayed locked up, always escorted by his bodyguards and the two doctors Yggdra had seen before, in varying states of moodiness with dark circles under his eyes and an unusual paleness to his face. Always, they carried out the same ritualistic drawing of blood, preparing filled syringes for the emperor's rumored decoy. Always, Flone shook her head at the man who'd decided to use her as a hostage and told him he was ruining his health as she used her powers to keep him standing.

The process of taking blood seemed to be painful. Yggdra saw it in the way Gulcasa would set his teeth, look away from the needle, and stand rigidly still with the cords standing out in his throat while the doctors worked. Still, it was no more than he deserved, she kept telling herself.

Even as his obvious grief tore at her insides, Yggdra kept telling herself that, and tried to force the coldness back into her heart.

"Why do you do that?" she finally asked, shaking her head, after the last of Gulcasa's four visits. "Help him like that, I mean. It seems… so strange, when he's been the cause of your suffering."

"As a cleric, I've taken an oath to heal the ill and protect the weak, no matter what banner they crusade beneath," Flone said simply. "And… Yggdra, after all I've seen, I don't believe Gulcasa is a bad person."

"But—"

"He has done cruel things in the interest of his country, yes," Flone admitted. "But he's a sovereign, and this is a war. A ruler has a duty to his or her people, and must always consider them above all other things. His late Majesty, your father, made his own painful decisions to protect Fantasinia. From what Russell has told me, you've already proven that you'll do anything for your people. Gulcasa is no different from you in that regard. That's what makes war such a tragic thing. If not for all this senseless battle, the people of Fantasinia and Bronquia would be able to _see _that there is nothing separating them but a border that was drawn in ages past. But all I can do to change that is to tell you this, and hope that one day you'll come to understand."

Yggdra doubted that day would ever come. She was not like Gulcasa, not in any way at all. No matter what Flone seemed to think, she knew that much was true.

---

Yggdra was lying on her back and counting cracks in the ceiling on the evening of the second day when soldiers came to retrieve her.

"We're moving out," she was informed as the door to her cell was opened. "Hands."

Yggdra offered them hesitantly; the man wound rope around them and tied it securely, binding the princess' hands in front of her, then knelt down and unlocked the shackle around her ankle.

"I wish you luck, Your Highness," Flone called from the other cell as Yggdra was led away. Biting her lip, the girl privately wondered if this was the last time she'd ever see the strange and yet kindhearted cleric. If she survived… if she survived this and got away, or was rescued by Milanor, Roswell, and the others, she would come back here and try to set things right. It was too cruel to just leave Flone here with her fiancé held in bondage because of her captivity.

When Yggdra and the Imperial soldiers got down to the courtyard of Karona proper, Gulcasa was standing there with a large part of his army amassed, giving out orders. "Aegina, start leading the auxiliary squads out now. Once you reach the boundary of Marduk, wait for the rest of us there. Once your runner makes it back, the Black Cavalry will join you, then Emilia's division. Eudy, head out and prepare the cannon battery. We have got to make this work."

"We've brought the girl, Your Majesty," one of Yggdra's "escorts" announced. "What should we do with her?" 

Gulcasa looked towards them, then waved a hand dismissively. "I'll take charge of her soon. Keep watching her until then. Where's Luciana?"

"She's already on her way to the tower," Aegina replied. "And, Your Majesty, she's not very happy at being assigned babysitting."

"I don't really care. She can complain once we rendezvous. You never know what can happen in the heat of battle; Flone must remain protected. I gave Russell my word on that. And whether Luciana likes it or not, that means she's on guard duty for a while. Besides, it's not like I can trust her around our captive. You have a lot more self-control than her, despite your hatred." 

Aegina made a face and shrugged one shoulder. Yggdra thought she looked embarrassed.

"Alright—where's Flaeran run off to?" Gulcasa asked in a louder tone, surveying his gathered soldiers with a frown.

"Here, Your Majesty," someone called, and the ranks parted to allow a man through. As soon as Yggdra saw him, she knew that this had to be the decoy of which Flone had spoken—he was wearing armor that was almost the exact image of Gulcasa's own, but newer-looking, with less dents and old bloodstains. He was about the same height as his Emperor, but his features were softer, his hair was about a foot shorter and darker red, and his eyes were more brown than gold.

"Here," Gulcasa said, holding out a lumpy black wrap tied with a thick red cord. "As soon as your forces reach the main castle, inject the first of these, and use another one every six hours. This should be enough to last you for up to a week. Do not underestimate the Royal Army. What they lack in numbers, they make up for in desperation. If the situation gets too desperate and we've been gone for long enough, forget about holding the line and retreat towards Ishnad. Baldus will cover for you if they don't see through the ruse. Once we're away, there's no point in risking your life over this. I would hate to have to train a new decoy after all this time."

"Understood, Your Majesty," the soldier named Flaeran said, his eyes shining. "For the glory of our Empire, I will keep the enemy at bay for as long as I can!"

"Good man. Now go," Gulcasa instructed. Flaeran left, taking a division of the soldiers along with him. They headed down the courtyard path towards the castle at the center of the fort.

"What are you going to do with me?!" Yggdra demanded. Gulcasa looked at her almost as if he'd forgotten she was standing there; his expression grew cold as he stared her into silence.

"I'm going to end this war, and _all _wars," he replied at last. "After this, no one will challenge the Bronquian Empire ever again. And to do that, I need you."

"Why?" Yggdra asked, cowed by his glare.

"You'll see when we get there," he told her.

---

As soon as Gulcasa had finished dictating orders to his army, he handed Yggdra over to his bodyguards, who marched her out the back of the castle and into a carriage waiting there.

"Try not to cause too much trouble, Princess," one of them said wryly. "His Majesty's not in the best of moods, and we need you alive for this."

"Why Marduk?" she asked, looking from one knight to the other plaintively. "What's there that you need me for?"

"We're not _going _to Marduk," the other one answered. "We're going to Lost Aries. No more questions, now. Just hush and stay put for a while."

Yggdra sighed, but did—there was little else that she _could _do, trussed up and thrust in a box like this. At least the carriage had small open windows, so that she could see what was going on. She watched as a slow trickle of Imperial soldiers began their march towards Marduk—Aegina, Zilva, Leon, and Emilia all went past with their squads over the course of the night, then the next day. Yggdra was let out once or twice for a latrine break and given food, but if she hadn't been able to watch the soldiers and wonder what they were up to, trying to snatch bits and pieces of conversations, she would've been bored out of her mind. Yggdra _hated _being kept in the dark about things.

Finally, the carriage door opened to reveal Gulcasa and his guards. "The Royal Army has breached the castle confines," he said simply. "That means we're leaving now."

"Wait… you can't just…" She shook her head. "You're leaving your army to fight mine? You're _running away?"_

"Priorities," was Gulcasa's grunted response as he narrowed his eyes at her. Yggdra got the feeling that he wasn't all too happy with this, either. "Shut up so we can get going, Princess."

Yggdra growled inwardly, but did. Gulcasa's bodyguards clambered into the carriage, taking their places on the seat across from hers. Gulcasa stepped onto the low rung that led into the car, then stopped, a scowl that was equal parts annoyance, disgust, and dismay crossing his face as he looked at Yggdra.

Yggdra blinked, wondering what she could possibly have done _now._

"Budge up," he snapped.

_Oh. _Yggdra scooted over, feeling even more awkward than she had when she'd shared the prison with Flone. With both dragon knights sitting on the other side of the carriage, Gulcasa obviously had nowhere to sit but next to her.

Once he had, he glared at her and turned to stare out his window, crossing his arms in an almost petulant gesture.

_It's not _my _fault they didn't leave you a place to sit over there, _Yggdra wanted to cry in exasperated protest, but by now she knew better.

This was going to be a _very _long ride.

_And how am I ever to get away when it seems I'm forever being watched and tied up? _Yggdra wondered wearily. _If it was Milanor in my place, I'm sure he would be able to sabotage them somehow—slip his bonds or pick the locks or, or even break the carriage wheels. If it were Roswell—well, he's shown me many times that he doesn't need his hands to work spells on people. But me… I'm so helpless, so useless. Even with my enemy sitting right next to me, I can't…_

Of course, it was Gulcasa that was really the problem here. Even if she had no idea what it was she was here for, the one thing Yggdra _did _know was that the Imperial Army needed her alive. If Gulcasa—or Aegina, she supposed—wasn't present, she might be able to risk making a run for it, even with her hands bound. Ordinary soldiers would be too worried they'd kill her to bring a pursuit down to a fight. But Gulcasa… Yggdra didn't doubt that if she tried to escape, he wouldn't worry about leaving her unharmed. So long as she still had breath in her body when he was done, he'd beat her senseless, and her prospects of escape would be ruined for good.

As Yggdra mulled over her situation bitterly, Flone's pleas for her to look at Gulcasa as a person like her echoes in the back of her mind. At first the princess was annoyed and even troubled by those words intruding on her at a time like this, but then she realized it.

_All this time I've been thinking of Gulcasa like he's some invincible incarnation of evil, _Yggdra thought wonderingly, _when he's not. He's no less human than I am, which means that he's fallible. He can make mistakes just as easily as I can. Maybe this isn't what Flone meant for me to do, but… I have to look at him like he's just an ordinary man. That's the only possible way I'll be able to spot any weaknesses I can exploit._

Biting her lip, she glanced at Gulcasa appraisingly. He was still looking out the window, and his guards' attention was focused on him, so it didn't look like they would notice anything had changed.

Yggdra ran over what she already knew about her opponent. Even if he didn't act like it, Gulcasa was young—probably only a few years older than her. And while more experienced generals like Baldus lent him their aid, he didn't have Baldus with him now, and the generals and commanders that were accompanying him tended to submit to his judgment. He had no one who would question him or point out flaws in his strategies. This was good. Younger commanders tended to make more mistakes when left to their own devices.

In addition to his inexperience, Gulcasa was already troubled by physical and emotional burdens. Even with healings and treatment by doctors, Gulcasa had sustained some nasty wounds in the battle for Paltina, and because he'd wanted to leave his decoy behind to stall the Royal Army, he'd been steadily losing blood over the past two days. This meant that he might still be in considerable pain, but trying to tough it out nonetheless. Also, he'd just lost a close friend, and his grief was fraying his temper badly; just think of the number of times he'd given her short shrift only today!

Yggdra frowned and kept staring. There were dark circles under Gulcasa's eyes, meaning that because of either his physical or emotional pain or the stress of preparing for an assault by the Royal Army, he'd lost sleep lately. This was also good. Even without all his other stressors, it meant he would be sleepy, and sleepy tacticians were slipshod.

Barely had Yggdra thought it when Gulcasa made a face and looked back at his guards. "Keep an eye on the girl for me," he said. "I need to rest for a little while. If I'm not awake in a few hours, feel free to wake me up yourselves." With that, he leaned against the side of the carriage frame and closed his eyes. Within instants, his breathing had evened out, and the slow rise and fall of his armored chest told Yggdra that he was basically dead to the world.

Should she "accidentally" jostle the seat a few times? Turn around and, while shifting positions, poke him? It would be easy to look like she hadn't meant it.

"Don't even _think _about it," one of the two guards said, giving her a stern look. "His Majesty needs his sleep. Disturbing him when he's in this condition would just be _inhumane."_

"And if you _do _make a nuisance of yourself, we'll have to tether you outside," the other said, shaking his head at her. "Keeping up with the horses will be _your _problem. We don't want to, but we will. So you leave His Majesty alone, understand, Princess?"

Yggdra sighed and nodded, feeling put out. There went that idea.

Still, this was a start. Before he was the Emperor, Gulcasa was just an ordinary man.

If Yggdra kept on her toes and thought about it hard, she'd be able to find ways to whittle him down.

If she ever wanted to see her friends again, she'd _have _to.

:TBC:


	5. Family

Shades of Gray

See disclaimer in the prologue

A sharp jolt pulled Yggdra from the floating bliss of her dreamscape back into reality, and she opened her eyes with a reluctant moan, disoriented and not knowing immediately where she was.

"We're here," announced a familiar voice. Yggdra's heart sank as she looked at the two dragon knights—one of them had heralded their arrival (at where?); both of them were smiling as she cautiously sat up. Her face started to burn with embarrassment. Here she'd just made up her mind to remain vigilant and look for the opening in which she could escape, and while she'd been musing over all the information she'd gained while watching Gulcasa, she'd gone and dozed off.

"Ughhh… _no. _Shut up. One more half hour. Please the gods, that's all I ask," a sleep-saturated voice groaned piteously from beside her.

"Sorry, Your Majesty, but we've arrived. The carriage can't take us into the forest. You have to wake up now," the other guard said politely even while struggling not to laugh.

"We've—_what?" _Next to Yggdra, Gulcasa sat upright and whirled sharply enough that his hair whipped the princess' cheek. "We're here already? Why—why—" here he covered a yawn while still trying to look reproachful "—why didn't you wake me earlier when I told you to?"

"We're your bodyguards. It's our duty to take care of you. And it's not like we can expect you to address and lead the army on four hours of sleep, can we? You haven't been thinking straight lately with all that's been happening, and so for your sake we've got to take charge every now and again. It pains us to say it, but we've little other choice when you forget the reason you're wearing that crown."

To Yggdra's amazement, Gulcasa looked truly chagrined. "Gods, have I really been that out of it…? No… I can't say I blame you. I've been a very unmanageable emperor for the past few days. I hope you'll forgive me, and understand why we need to keep pushing everyone like this. Nessiah gave his life so that this plan would have a chance to work. I'll try to stop taking so many risks, so long as we can carry on for his sake."

"That's more like it," the other guard said with a nod. "Even our captive here has had the sense to get sleep while she can. After all, once we rendezvous with the others, we'll have a long hike until we can reach the waypoint where we can make camp."

Gulcasa gave Yggdra a dismissive yet annoyed "Oh yes, _you" _look as if again only remembering now that she'd been here the whole time. "…Right. Let's get moving while we can. I doubt we even have the luxury of waiting for news from Karona like this. Flaeran is a strong soldier, but he's nowhere near my level yet. I have a feeling the Royal Army's going to figure something's up and won't take the bait."

"True that." One of the guards opened the carriage door. "Out you get, Your Majesty. Princess."

_Oh, drat, _Yggdra thought crossly. That intriguing little exchange had caught her attention, and now she couldn't fully remember her dream. It had been beautiful. She'd been dancing at some kind of ball, caught up in a sprightly but still moonstruck waltz with a light-footed partner whose face she couldn't remember, but who she knew had been resplendent in black velvet and scarlet silk. She'd been rudely awakened just as he'd swept her into a turn, laughing. A shame to lose such a lovely dream to such ugly realities.

Still, there was nothing else for it. Depressed, Yggdra didn't think twice before accepting the hand Gulcasa held out to her, helping her down without losing her balance. He led her by her still-bound hands into the bustle of the large Imperial camp.

As the soldiers took notice, they began to stand to make bows or salutes. Gulcasa waved them off and kept dragging Yggdra on towards the officers' circle.

"Oniisama!" Emilia called, waving. "Yay, everyone's finally here now!"

"We were starting to think something had happened," Aegina said, standing up.

"If anything did, I'm not aware of it. Aside from the driver, we slept most of the way." Gulcasa stretched. "…Damn it. I shouldn't have, but I was tired. Now all I want to do is go _back _to sleep."

"Well, like it or not, we're not back home, and you are not at your desk signing and sealing paperwork, so you can't go back to sleep yet," Aegina quipped.

"Ouch." Gulcasa headslumped. "Let's not embarrass the Emperor in front of the prisoner, alright? Unless you cease and desist, I'll have to declare you insubordinate and put you in the stockades when we're home. And that will chip into Leon's already impressive debt of hours he's supposed to be in there."

_"Hey," _the Black Knight snapped.

"Start obeying orders. That's all I, or anyone, will ever ask," Gulcasa said mildly, giving his general a sidelong look. "Alright, rally the troops. We're heading into Marduk now. As soon as we've reached the waypoint, we'll rest. That clear, everyone?"

"Yes, sir," the officers chorused. Zilva rose and slipped back through the ranks to return with Gulcasa's dragon in tow.

"Your battle mount, Your Majesty," she said simply, offering him the reins.

"Thank you." The dragon squeaked and leaned its muzzle into Gulcasa's palm as he reached out to pat it. "Yes, I missed you too."

_What's this? _Yggdra wondered, watching him smile at his dragon in confusion. _Always before, he's been angry or ordering people around or at the very least glaring at me. But now he almost seems… kind._

No. Agh. She _had _to stop thinking like that. He was her enemy.

"Well, Princess, what's it to be?" Gulcasa asked her suddenly, giving her a no-nonsense look of appraisal. "Are you walking, or is one of us carrying you?"

Carrying her unconscious like a war trophy, doubtless. "I'll walk, if it please _Your Majesty." _She spat the words like an insult, glaring at him distrustfully.

"Don't be difficult," he said, that edge back in his voice. "You've had your warning. You're not going to get another one. The next disrespectful or complaining word I hear out of you, you're going the rest of the way tied over the front of my saddle. Too many good men have spent their blood to get you here for me to take _any _bullshit from _you,_ little girl."

She gave him a sullen glare, but didn't speak. No, she had to have been mistaken. Human or not, Gulcasa was never kind.

---

Several hours of trudging in filed lines through badly-kept woodland pathways later, the Imperial Army and its Royal captive reached a wide clearing.

"Company halt," Gulcasa called loudly enough for everyone to hear. The soldiers and Yggdra let out sighs of relief and meandered into the clearing, finding places to sit on fallen logs and grassy spaces.

"Let's get some fires going," Leon the Black Knight called, sounding irritable as ever, gesturing his men towards the trees.

"No, wait," Gulcasa said suddenly and sternly. "We've brought our own stores of firewood. You're to leave these trees alone. This forest is a sacred haven to its inhabitants, and they say this world's incarnation of the holy World Tree Yggdrasil is in here somewhere. We must respect the wishes and the customs of the people of Marduk while we're here. These are not our lands. Those of Marduk wish only to be kept out of this war, and as long as they're not taking action against us, that means we have to show them some courtesy."

"Huh. What's to keep them from just turning around and helping those Fantasinian dogs?" Leon asked sullenly. "We shouldn't bother."

It was Emilia who answered. "'Cause the tribes of Marduk are like the Vanir. They're all people who've been exiled from Fantasinia. Of course they're not allied to them, Leon, you big silly."

"Tch…" Leon spat on the ground, but waved his people away from the trees.

"Clear spaces in the brush and make stone circles before lighting the fires," Aegina ordered, walking away from Gulcasa and his escort in order to make sure her orders were being followed. "We don't want these getting out of hand."

As Yggdra looked around uncertainly, not sure what she was supposed to do now, Gulcasa nodded to her. "You sit down. If you stay and be good, we'll even feed you," he said with a touch of wry humor to his voice.

"…………" Yggdra gave him a _look, _but did.

Gulcasa threw up his hands at her. "Are you going to be this difficult the _whole _way?" he asked exasperatedly. "No, never mind, don't answer. I'm sure I already know." He sighed and walked off, shaking his head. "Princesses… I swear…"

"You won't get anywhere here acting so stuck-up," observed one of Emilia's attendants, the griffon handlers known as the Scarlet Riders. "You're no better than any of us. The only difference between you and us, in fact, is the way you masquerade your totalitarianism behind the façade of justice."

_"Masquerade? _Totalitarianism?" Yggdra repeated, appalled. "How dare you! The Kingdom of Fantasinia isn't like that at all! It's you of the Empire who dominate and conquer—"

"Either you're very good at playing innocent or you're just stupid," the Scarlet Rider replied. "How the hell d'you think Fantasinia got all that land it used to sit on? Going up to its former rulers and asking nicely? You grew up in luxury because of the suffering of conquered countries. You're little more than a spoiled brat, and you're certainly acting like one. Why don't you get it yet? His Majesty is our only hope, and whether they know it or not, he's the salvation of all the people he liberated from the hands of the old King."

"Don't talk about my father like—" Yggdra cried, standing sharply and overbalancing so quickly that she tripped and sprawled onto her face with a yelp. She'd forgotten her bound hands.

"Stand down," came a firm command from behind Yggdra and her tormentor. Sitting up, she looked up with surprise—it was Gulcasa. "I really don't think she knows anything. And while her ignorance most certainly does not excuse the way she acts and thinks, it's pointless and stupid to pick fights over it. This is only wasting your energy, and it won't change anything. The only way we'll turn the tables now is to keep moving forward so I can claim my birthright."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the Scarlet Rider said, subdued.

"Go find my sister. Doubtless she's looking for you," Gulcasa suggested. The Scarlet Rider brightened and left; the Emperor looked down at Yggdra with an unreadable expression.

"What?" Yggdra asked defensively, glaring up at him.

"You are nothing but trouble," he informed her, and held something out to her. "Here. Take this."

Yggdra looked at it for a moment before she did. It was a round fruit a little too big to be an apple. "What's… this?"

"It's a fruit native to this forest," Gulcasa told her. "Eat it. It's sweet. As soon as we've rested, we're moving out again, and if you don't have enough energy you'll likely pass out along the way. That's an annoyance we can't have at this stage of the proceedings."

As he walked off, Yggdra hesitantly set her lips to the pliant skin of the fruit and took a nibble. Its juice spilled almost immediately, sweeter than ambrosia, clear and sticky. The princess closed her eyes with a little sigh. This was just the kind of thing that she'd been craving all this time.

Slowly eating the fruit down to its pit, she watched Gulcasa heading through the camp to talk to his soldiers. He was—such a strange person. One moment he was threatening her, the next he was treating her almost civilly, however forced it seemed. Sometimes he seemed like… he almost reminded her of one or another of her dear friends. But all the same, Yggdra could never forget what she'd seen as the first three Royal Cavalries had rushed her from the castle, nor the titanic clash when she and her forces had reclaimed Paltina. Even through all the times she'd seen Gulcasa lose his temper over the past few days, it had been _nothing _compared to the battle madness that had overtaken him. He fought like—for all the world like some beast, crazed and unthinking and completely lacking any sense of humanity, and he was horrifyingly powerful in close combat.

It was only that inhuman edge to his strength, she knew, that had made him able to slaughter her father and her people. The temper snap that took him from fallible human to raging demon—the ability so aptly named Genocide.

Yggdra could not allow herself to forget that.

---

It was some time past dark when Yggdra was awakened by the sound of hushed voices nearby.

The Imperial camp was almost entirely asleep; she knew that sentries were posted at the fringes of the clearing, but the soldiers all around her were curled into their sleeping rolls, stealing what rest they could. If Yggdra's rope bonds hadn't been fixed to the ground with an iron stake, she would have been long gone by now. As it was, she'd had no choice but to lie down and try to get some sleep as her enemies were doing.

But if they were supposed to be sleeping, then who…?

"So you really mean to go ahead with this?"

Yggdra shifted a little, peeking over her shoulder towards the low-burning fire. Silhouetted against it were two familiar forms, both sitting with their backs to her.

"Yes." A long sigh. "Dammit, Aegina, you know I can't turn back now."

"But… you know what's going to happen to you if we go through with it." Aegina's voice was low, insistent, and worried. "Are you really sure?"

"Well, we're doing this now so that if nothing else works, I _can _go through with it all the way. Believe me, it's not like I _want _to do this. I'd have to have one serious death wish if I was throwing myself into this with joyful abandon. But—the Royal Army is a serious threat. Much more serious than we all thought. Even without their princess and the Gran Centurio, they had the power to kill one of our best. If we let this go on…"

"But we can _win. _Gulcasa-nii, just look at us. We can do this without your having to…!"

"I am looking at you. I'm looking at all of you, and how hard you're fighting, and the sheer number of soldiers we've lost since the Royal Army was reformed. I'm thinking of my country, and the way my people all look to me with real _hope _in their eyes for the first time in what must be years for them. I owe it to all of you to end this war as quickly as I possibly can. Maybe if we pulled back to Ishnad and dug in for the long run, we could splinter every attacker that came near us, but all the same, our casualties would be too steep for any of us to stand. I can't just sit there and take that. Losing Nessiah—it's made me realize how _stupid _I've been, that most of my generals and commanders are family and friends. If anything happens to any of you… I don't know if I can keep it together. For the sake of all of you, I have to do this."

"Gulcasa-nii… don't you act like that. None of us are going to die on you, not that easily."

"Oh, really?" Gulcasa asked bitterly. "You've been with us every day of this little excursion. You hear the way that girl talks, the way she spews her righteous, holier-than-thou, might-makes-right sermons—the same excuses Fantasinia's always used. And she believes them, absolutely. It's that blindness to the suffering of others that crippled Bronquia in the first place. There is no doubt in my mind that her whole army is just like that, using the legends of the Gran Centurio's justice as a crutch for their actions. They will not care that they're killing our loved ones.

"You know, back at my coronation, I wondered why it is that this crown I wear is called the 'Crown of Thorns', especially since it had a proper name a long time ago. Now I think I understand. I'm bound to Bronquia now. If we lose this war, Fantasinia's stranglehold on our people is right back where it was before our revolution. Every time I think about that, it just tears at me like nothing else. I cannot let that happen. It doesn't matter how much I suffer or bleed. It doesn't matter if I die, so long as I can save them.

"And if our strength alone can't, well… then maybe this can."

"But, Gulcasa-nii, this is suicide," Aegina protested, reaching out and clutching his arm. "If the worst happens and we're pushed that far back, you'll…"

"As long as Bronquia is saved, I will have no regrets," Gulcasa told her with finality. "I was always taught that those with power are destined to rule and protect the weak. If I'm not strong enough to fulfill my duty, then all I can do is become stronger."

"Gulcasa-nii, no matter what you say, I still think we shouldn't do this," Aegina said, shaking her head. "You're far more important to me than our country or even our people. I owe you and Emilia so much. I can't just let you do this without telling you it doesn't feel right, even though I know you won't listen to me. Luciana might cover it up with anger, but she feels the same way. So…"

Gulcasa stood up and stared out into the distance. "…Go get some sleep, little sister. We move out at daybreak, and you need your rest."

"Gulcasa-nii…"

He looked down at her, and in the fire's low light, Yggdra was able to make out his sad smile. "That's an order, Aegina. Now go do as I say."

Mutely, she did, leaving and making her way back towards her own troops.

Yggdra wondered what all this could be about, but her thoughts meandered back into confused muddle before she could think about it too much, and she drifted back into sleep.

:TBC:


	6. Gray

Shades of Gray

See disclaimer in the prologue

When Yggdra awakened, she found the camp a bustle of activity.

_We're moving on already…? _she thought in dismay, rubbing at her eyes sleepily as she sat up.

"And so I take it we're moving out presently?" came a calm and nearly flat voice near her—Zilva. Yggdra looked up to see that the head of the Imperial assassins was speaking to one of Gulcasa's bodyguards.

"Well, we're moving out _soon, _but…" the man laughed awkwardly and pointed towards the nearly-dead fire from the last night. "Apparently, 'soon' might be a while yet."

Yggdra looked over to where he'd directed, then saw what he meant.

Gulcasa lay sprawled next to the circle of stone, his long scarlet hair tossed out like a tumbled sheet of silk behind him, someone's donated pillow under his head and a blanket over him, ill-covering him even from his shoulders to his thighs, as apparently he'd tossed in his sleep somewhat.

"He must've been exhausted," the Emperor's bodyguard went on. "After all, he'd worn himself to the bone preparing Karona for assault, even though he was still giving blood, and everyone knows that Nessiah's loss is still hurting him. He's barely stirred at all since the dawn watch came in."

"And no one has the heart to wake the poor thing," Zilva finished, half-covering a smile. "I see. The Special Forces will be on standby. We'll wait until His Majesty is ready."

"Thank you, Master Zilva," the dragon knight said, audibly relieved. "Please excuse me. I've my other duties to attend to now."

As Yggdra blinked, bemused, he walked over and knelt next to her, taking the stake attached to her bonds up. "Well, Princess, we've got some time before we move on, it seems. We haven't much choice of things to eat for breakfast, but His Majesty will absolutely have our heads if you faint from hunger on the road so close to our destination. Come with me, and I'll show you our selection of fruits to choose from."

"Um… alright," Yggdra replied, taken aback by his air of politeness. _This army is so hopelessly strange, _she thought dizzily. _I thought they'd be so different from my own, and yet…_

Cutting herself off and refusing to think it, the princess gathered up her skirts and stood. No matter how kind these people seemed, she mustn't forget that her death likely lay somewhere down this road. She mustn't let herself think of them as anything less than enemies.

---

Gulcasa didn't wake up until at least an hour after Yggdra had been fed and given her morning latrine break. Much like after the carriage ride the previous day, the first thing he did was demand why, in the name of all that was holy, no one had thought to get him up. As Yggdra watched from a distance, his bodyguards, Aegina, and Emilia interrupted his righteous tirade with their own, giving him a searing lecture on how he needed to keep his strength up just in case they'd been followed and would need to prepare for battle.

Gulcasa grumbled something about all the lost time giving the Royal Army the perfect opportunity to sneak-attack them from behind, but walked off and got himself his own breakfast after ordering them to get everyone ready to go.

"That's so like them," laughed a soldier near Yggdra as he and his fellows got to fixing their bedrolls and packing their gear.

"This, er… happens often?" Yggdra asked hesitantly, looking uncertainly from them to Gulcasa, buckling his dragon's tack with a half-eaten piece of toast in his mouth.

"His Majesty tends to be too hard on himself a lot," was the soldier's reply. "If it weren't for his family, I'd be worried about how he would end up. He does it all for us, that's the amazing thing. Back before the revolution, His Majesty's predecessor and the Royal detachments worked us like dogs. But His Majesty treats us decent, and looks out for all of us, bless his heart. You'd be hard-put to find a better, kinder ruler to sit on the Dragon Throne."

_Kind… _Yggdra shook her head. _There they go again. These people… what side of himself does Gulcasa show to them, to command their loyalty so? Even Flone said he was an idealist, and these people… Still, I know better. Gulcasa and the Imperial Army are anything but kind to my people. All those poor villages caught up in our battles… all my poor citizens, so afraid of attracting Imperial notice…_

"To the Fantasinians, Gulcasa seems to be a horrible tyrant, but in the eyes of his people, he's a great hero," Flone had told her in the prison at Karona. "It's the same way that you and your father are revered leaders to the Kingdom, but are seen as selfish and greedy villains to the Empire. If this were only a peaceful world, then I'm sure the two of you would actually be able to get along."

_That's a very large "if"… but maybe, _maybe, _Flone isn't that far off, _Yggdra thought reluctantly. _But—it did happen. The war, all the deaths and tragedies _did _happen, and Gulcasa is my enemy. No matter how much his people love him, that still can't change the fact that he killed my father._

_…It's just that… seeing these people, I can't help but wonder what kind of lives they led… why it is that they all seem to hate the Kingdom so much. All the monarchs of our lineage have been bound to fight for justice. What could we possibly have done to elicit such hatred from the Empire?_

Aha, but has _your _justice always represented justice for everyone? whispered that nasty little voice in the back of Yggdra's mind that was making her question herself in the first place. What about Embellia? What about Verlaine?

_What would my friends think about this? _Yggdra wondered. _What would they tell me to do?_

Milanor, doubtless, would just give her an uncomfortable grimace, shrug, and say that such heavy matters were above his head since he was just a simple thief. Durant would gently but insistently remind her of what the Empire had done, and tell her that she must press forward. Nietzsche… for all her pluck and courage, she was still little more than a child, and because of the way Yggdra and the others had introduced the situation to her, she surely perceived the Empire as nothing but evil.

And as for Roswell…

Yggdra suddenly remembered the day after the awful battles at Verlaine. Together with Roswell's forces, the Royal Army had gathered up the dead of the White Rose Army and laid them all to rest, ending with Rosary. That sunset, she'd found Roswell standing at her fresh grave, his face covered in tears and his eyes heavy with guilt.

She'd already known what was wrong, so she'd only asked if there was anything she could do.

Roswell had just shaken his head, and then he'd told her…

_"No true conflict is ever so simple as right and wrong. No war is ever just a matter of black and white. But… although we know that to be true, why is it that we can never really see the shades of gray in between until it's all too late?"_

Yggdra hadn't known what to say. She'd just tried to comfort him as best she could, and brought him back to the rest of their army. But now… now, she felt as though she was beginning to understand his words.

_But, Roswell, _she thought miserably, _what do you do if you're starting to see where the lines haze, but know you have to move forward nonetheless? What am I supposed to do now?_

_I can't turn back. Not after everything that's happened._

"Hey, Princess."

Yggdra turned. Aegina was standing behind her, looking exasperated.

"Best to stop woolgathering. If there's anything you think you need, then get it now. We're moving out in a matter of minutes."

"Y-yes," Yggdra said after a pause, staring at the ground.

She would continue forward. What else _could _she do?

---

They'd barely been walking an hour when the lines of the forest abruptly gave way to the stark, rocky wastelands of Lost Aries.

Hearing the wind howl through the Valley of Lament, as the southernmost area of the dystopia was called, Yggdra shivered. It was so eerie… so unearthly and inhuman.

"Alright, this is where we leave you," Gulcasa said to Aegina. "You and your troops have command over all the terrain within Marduk. I trust your judgment—divide your men as you see fit."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the valkyrie told him, bowing her head. She hesitated a moment, then added, "Be careful…"

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me," Gulcasa told her. "Now… if nothing happens, we'll collect you on our way back, but remain vigilant. It's true that because of the forest's density, the Royal Army might sneak past you, so Leon, you and your troops are in charge of this area here."

"Those obnoxious brats are as good as dead," Leon said with a guffaw, raising his spear high.

Gulcasa gave him a _look. _"I would have you accompany me and entrust this area to someone else, but we'll be passing the populated area soon, and we can't afford to estrange the Vanir. There may be the occasional village here, so I am telling you now: Leave any and all civilians in this area ALONE. This is a direct order. Do you understand me?"

Leon made a face, but said "Yes, sir" and motioned for his troops, heading out into the valley.

Gulcasa, watching him, shook his head with a groan. "Why the hell did we ever promote him?" he asked no one in particular, then turned back towards the rest of his army. "…Zilva, Emilia, stay here and watch him. Make absolutely sure he behaves. If there's trouble and you need backup, one of you either head forward to alert our forces or go back and let Aegina know."

"Affirmative," Zilva said, closing her eyes in acknowledgement.

"Don't worry about a thing, Oniisama!" Emilia assured him, punching the air energetically. "We've got everything covered over here!"

Gulcasa smiled at his little sister indulgently. "Everyone move out. You have your orders. As for the rest of you, you're with me and our favorite princess here." Yggdra jumped a little as his heavy gauntleted hand patted her shoulder in indication. "Before we head for Galleon Prison and the seal, we'll spend some time with the Vanir to explain the situation to them and assure them that we mean their people no harm. Given the history of this land and their people, they're not fond of warfare."

"Ah, Your Majesty." One of the men stepped up a bit nervously. "About the ritual… could there be any, ah, adverse affects we need worry about?"

Gulcasa sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry to tell you that I have no idea. What we're about to do is a very desperate act that's never been tried before. There's a record of how it's done, obviously, but not even those who made the seal knew exactly what will happen when it's broken. You needn't worry, though—only my knights and I, and our captive of course, will head into the prison itself. The rest of you will be outside on guard duty."

"Your Majesty." Aegina stepped forward with fisted hands. "For the last time, are you _sure?"_

"I am." Gulcasa's eyes were hard with resolve. "No matter what the consequences are, I _will not _let Nessiah and our soldiers' deaths be in vain. In the revolution, Bronquia won her freedom. This time, we will win back her pride. Never again will the Kingdom cast its shadow upon us. Are you with me?"

His response was a resounding cheer from all the soldiers present. Although she hated to admit it, Yggdra couldn't deny that his words had taken even _her _breath away, leaving her with gooseflesh all over her arms. Here was something else Flone had been right about—the Imperial Army certainly felt that their cause was one to be believed in.

"Good. Now—all soldiers in the Black Cavalry, Scarlet Riders, Special Forces, and Aegina's division, move out! If the Royal Army comes this way, show them that the Imperial Army will never give up!"

There was another cheer, and then Leon, Emilia, Zilva, and Aegina all moved off towards their designated posts, leaving Gulcasa, his bodyguards, his personal division of knights, and a few leftover divisions of ordinary soldiers standing on the border between Marduk and Lost Aries.

"And now we ride," he said softly, turning towards the northeast with a strange gravity to his words that gave Yggdra a very, very bad feeling.

---

Despite all her travels through her war-torn country, Yggdra thought that Lost Aries was probably the saddest place she'd ever seen.

The Vanir—all dark-skinned individuals with blue or green hair and red, orange, or yellow eyes, tribesmen who were rarely seen in Fantasinia—eked out a miserable existence in clusters of small towns, farming what precious little land was viable and raising the griffons which thrived in these harsh climes to aid their hunting. Their people seemed to consider their existence almost ordinary, and the Imperial Army acted as though nothing was strange about their way of life, but as soon as they were out of earshot of each village, soldiers looked at each other uncomfortably, and Yggdra heard Gulcasa curse to himself with such pathos in his voice that she almost couldn't hate him any longer.

After passing by various tiny thatch and adobe villages, the Imperial Army came to the wasteland's only major town, a hub of what little trade could be lured from more prosperous mercantile grounds such as the oases of Nyllard—the residence of the elder who made most governing decisions for the Vanir.

Most of the townspeople eyed the army's weapons with distrust and Yggdra, who they knew was Fantasinian even if they didn't know her station, with dislike. However, when asked, they pointed out a large adobe-brick building as their Elder's audience hall.

"The rest of you wait here," Gulcasa told the two divisions he'd had accompany him, motioned to his bodyguards, grabbed Yggdra by the upper arm, and headed towards it.

"Why…?" Yggdra protested, staggering half a step behind him as he dragged her along.

"You're staying where I can keep an eye on you," was his stern response. He didn't even look at her as he said it.

The doors of the hall opened to display a wide, mostly empty chamber lined by dimly lit torches. At its end sat an old man draped in heavy robes, holding a knobbly staff. Gulcasa hesitated for a moment, then shoved Yggdra at his bodyguards and walked towards the Elder, sitting about a yard and a half away from him.

Gulcasa's bodyguards towed Yggdra forward and sat behind their Emperor, pushing her to her knees at his left shoulder. The Elder watched it all without twitching. Yggdra saw that he was very old indeed, but his beard, mustache, and what hair still grew on his head was long and thick, with occasional blue streaks through its otherwise glistening white.

"You young ones are with the Empire, are you not?" he asked at last. His voice was still strong, its slight reedy tone due only to age, Yggdra was sure.

Gulcasa bowed his head in respect, though he kept his back straight. "Yes, Elder. My name is Gulcasa. I'm the Emperor, and I'm in command of these forces."

"…Indeed…?" There was undoubting expectation of an explanation in the old man's voice.

As Yggdra looked on silently, Gulcasa decided to oblige. "We're only passing through here—our army has business to the east, past the Gate of Atonement, in a place called Galleon Prison. I've come to make sure you know that we do not mean to involve your people in this business in any way, and that as soon as we're done, we'll leave. Tonight, we'll make our camp outside the bounds of this town. The lean season is on its way here, and we have no desire whatsoever to strain your hospitality or your supplies when you have to conserve them for your survival."

"Galleon Prison, you say… For a man wearing the lost sovereign star of Bronquia to head to that land… I am sure I have some idea of what it is you plan to do, young one, and I must tell you that your path is fraught with danger. Do you intend to continue?"

"For the sake of my people, I must," Gulcasa said heavily. "…I, too, wish there were some other way, but I don't see any. I would rather die than see my country enslaved again."

"…I see… Well, then, do as you must, Emperor. We shall neither help or hinder your actions."

"I promise we will not stay here long," Gulcasa told him fervently. "You seem to be aware of what it means to be of the old blood in Bronquia, so you probably know that even now our proximity to the dragonslayer's monument makes me feel ill. And even if that weren't so, to get such a peace-loving people involved in our war would be a terrible thing." He hesitated. "…There is one other matter, Elder…"

"And what would that be, young one?"

"When we prepared for this journey… I ordered my men to bring along our surplus in provisions. Not as charity—I would never offend the pride of the Vanir that way—but as an apology, for disturbing you like this. It's the only way I know to make up for intruding on your lands the way we have."

"…For a man of your age, you have a great heart," the Elder said at length, smiling a little. "My people will meet with your soldiers to discuss the surplus you mention. As long as our people may remain removed from the conflicts that trouble your countries, we have no right to protest any aim you hope to accomplish here."

"Thank you for your understanding," Gulcasa replied, and stood up, looking over Yggdra and his bodyguards. "…Let's go."

Yggdra followed him without a word. Although she was still bothered by the separate side of him she'd seen these past days, she now had to deal with a much more pressing fear.

If, as all these overheard conversations seemed to insinuate, whatever Gulcasa intended to do here in Lost Aries posed some risk of harm to _him, _when he intended to _benefit _from it, then what in the name of the heavens would it do to _her?_

She had to get out of here, _somehow._

:TBC:


	7. Ritual

Shades of Gray

See disclaimer in the prologue

By the time the Imperial Army had gotten through the Gate of Atonement and begun to close in on the place they called Galleon Prison, storm clouds had darkened the sky, heat lightning was rumbling ominously off in the distance, and cold, nervous little tremors were fluttering through Yggdra's belly. Since Aegina's unit wasn't around to take charge of her and Gulcasa seemed to want to make all haste, he'd attached a pillion pad to his dragon's saddle, strengthened the bonds on her hands, and put her up behind him. She'd been warned not to cause any trouble or she'd suffer a beating; Yggdra believed him. And cursed her luck—again, he'd likely be the only one willing to carry such a beating out if she tried to escape. If only she'd been tied to someone else, _anyone _else, but…

But she hadn't been, and Yggdra hated to admit it to herself because it felt like giving in, but it didn't seem like there was any way to escape after all.

"Is… this the place…?" a soldier ventured as the company drew to a halt before a decrepit-looking stone building with a scaffold sitting in front of it over a wide stone base.

Gulcasa shook his head and snorted. "It might not seem like much, but yes, this is it. In the old days, this place was a grand temple, tended to by priests and guarded by paladins and magical shields. When the Great Sorcery War destroyed these countries, it became the ruin that you see today. That scaffold there? They say it was built right over Aries' tomb. Not that that's any of our concern, but still, it's a bit ironic—an execution block sitting right on top of the grave of the thing people called the 'Angel of Death'."

"You seem so… sure, Your Majesty," one of Gulcasa's bodyguards ventured, looking as though he wasn't certain if his Emperor would take those words as an insult or not.

"Of course I'm sure," Gulcasa replied, but he was looking at the prison with an almost… _eager _look in his golden eyes. From where she sat, Yggdra couldn't see very well, but it looked as if they were… _glowing. _She shivered. "Even without the lore that's been passed down in my family for generations, I just… _know. _Blood calls to blood. This is the place. I can feel Brongaa's soul pulling at me."

"…………" The soldiers exchanged uneasy glances.

"…" Gulcasa shook his head as if to clear it. "…I apologize… I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. All my knights are with me—the rest of you, stay out here and keep watch."

The ordinary soldiers spread out along the area, milling around and examining their temporary camp, while Gulcasa turned his dragon towards the old prison itself, flapping its reins to get it to head forward.

The dragons, too, seemed… excited, Yggdra noticed, looking around at them. Like Gulcasa's, their eyes sparkled, and they were looking at the prison with interest. If they were horses, their ears would probably be pricked with curiosity.

Just what _was _this place?

Gulcasa dismounted from his dragon right outside the prison doors, wrapping its reins around an old rusted spike in the wall put there apparently for just this purpose. As he got Yggdra out of the saddle, his men did the same, and the Emperor's elite division ventured into the ancient building.

The place was dark, but dry. Someone towards the back of the ranks lit a torch and held it up, casting firelight through the halls.

What that light illuminated was a gruesome scene. Rows upon rows of ancient-looking cells lined the walls, with decaying chains still locked tight around half-dissolved human skeletons in many of them. A low murmur ran through the Imperial soldiers; Yggdra let out a shocked gasp and stumbled backwards, half-collapsing against Gulcasa.

He scowled down at her impatiently. "What did you expect? This place was once used as a _prison, _as the name implies. _They're _long dead and there's nothing anyone can do about that fact. If you don't have the stomach for sights like that, then don't look."

And he grabbed her shoulders, turned her straight ahead, and then almost gently tilted her face away from the ghastly display.

"…………" Yggdra watched him instead as he loosened the rope binding her hands slightly.

"Let's not forget, we've work to accomplish here," Gulcasa told his soldiers. "We cannot linger here when it's uncertain how much time we yet have. We must move on."

And, pulling Yggdra along with him, he proceeded to follow his own advice, heading for a staircase at the end of the row of cells and walking down it.

This floor, at least, was not filled with ancient corpses. Instead, its walls were covered in old cracked reliefs whose paint had faded nearly beyond recognition, and it was lined with broken pottery and furniture. It looked almost like it had been some kind of shrine, in days long ago.

"I suppose we can thank the prison at least for keeping treasure hunters out of this place," Gulcasa muttered darkly, shaking his head. As his soldiers followed him, he pulled Yggdra over to a thick marble slab set apart from the bricked walls, laid a hand on it for a moment, then propelled her towards his bodyguards. He then removed his right gauntlet, brought his bare hand to his lips, and bit the pad of his thumb so hard it bled. With Yggdra and his men looking on, he used his blood to draw a complicated rune on the door—when it was completed and he stepped back, the sanguine insignia shimmered, then there was a great grinding of stone and the slab pulled back, then up into the ceiling, revealing yet another staircase.

The soldiers looked at one another, then stared at Gulcasa with a kind of awe.

_Blood again, _Yggdra thought, frowning as she looked at her enemy. _What is it about that man's blood that's so special? Without it, his most powerful ability cannot be used… and now it's the key to opening this place? I think there may be more going on here than I know about… I wish someone would just tell me what in the world is going on…_

"Let's go," Gulcasa said then, and led them all down into the depths of the ancient temple.

Yggdra couldn't see much of the place, but she knew that this final chamber must be vast. Just the one torch the soldier had couldn't illuminate most of it, but she could just make out designs etched in the stone at their feet and a series of brackets on poles that held kindling of some sort.

"Light the torches," Gulcasa ordered, and the soldier who'd brought fire went along and did.

The designs Yggdra had seen were deep grooves in the floor that spanned the width and breadth of the entire room, and they formed the shape of an immense magical glyph. At the center of the room, framed on both sides by torches, stood an altar, and in the middle of it was a shallow trough with grooves running from it to the glyph on the floor.

As Yggdra and the soldiers stood in silence, Gulcasa unbound her hands and dragged her up to the altar with him.

"What… is this place?" Yggdra asked, breathless and trying to keep in pace, not really expecting much in the way of an answer.

Gulcasa, however, surprised her. "Of course you wouldn't know… this is a very old and very sacred shrine, not that its sanctity is anything you Fantasinians would respect. Tell me—have you ever heard the name 'Brongaa' before?"

Under his piercing stare, Yggdra could do little more than shiver as she shook her head.

Gulcasa turned away from her. "Then any explanation is lost on you."

They reached the altar, and Gulcasa untied the rope over Yggdra's hands completely, letting it fall to an unmarked section of the floor. Yggdra looked around briefly, wondering if this could be the moment she'd waited for, but saw the Imperial knights standing in front of the door giving her no-nonsense glares and realized that without a weapon, she'd have no hope at getting through all of them.

She was trapped.

Gulcasa took Yggdra's right hand in his left and pulled it forward, extending her arm over the dais. He shifted his other on the pole of his scythe, reaching higher up towards the blade, and held it out, letting the light of the torches glimmer off the bright steel.

That nervous feeling was building in Yggdra's belly again.

"Blood calls to blood," Gulcasa said again in a low voice, looking down at the altar now with half-closed eyes, deep in concentration. "So it is, and so it has always been… blood calls to blood, through the ages, back through the generations… through this sealed sleep that rivals even death. My lord, you will recognize this ancient and lasting covenant.

"Blood calls to blood, mine to yours. In my heart, in my soul, I can feel your presence. In your slumber, do you hear it? Do you hearken to my call?

"The days have darkened, and the holy ground where your body lies calls out in dire need. Bronquia, the country that carries your name, will be lost without your strength. In days of old, this world belonged to you. It is time for you to take back what has always been your right. Crush all those who oppose us, and reclaim all of Midgard as your own.

"Blood calls to blood. Blood it was that sealed you, and blood will set you free…

"The blood of those who made that seal, and the blood of your own heirs…"

Yggdra's heart beat faster and faster as Gulcasa spoke. His words, and what they implied, terrified her. What—what was he trying to _do _here?

"To this shrine, into this seal, I offer the blood of Paltina's line, the blood of those who oppose you."

Before Yggdra could try to tug her arm out of his grasp, he set the inner curve of his scythe's blade to her skin, pressed hard, and sliced, drawing a long spiral from the inside of her elbow to the back of her wrist, and over into her palm. The pain jolted along her skin only seconds after the razor-sharp steel left it, sending a searing line of fire along the open cut as blood welled out. With a frightened, agonized cry, Yggdra clutched at her arm in a weak attempt to stanch the raw wound.

Gulcasa dropped her arm distastefully and shifted his dripping scythe from his left hand to his right.

"Into this seal, and to your soul, I offer the blood of your lineage… my blood… the blood of your chosen receptacle."

He then set the blade of his scythe to his own forearm, pressing it rather harder in a spiraling wound identical to the one he'd given Yggdra. She watched in horrified fascination as he drew it slowly along without more than a soft sound he instantly bit back, intentionally mutilating his own body and letting his blood spill forth. As the first few droplets hit the ground, Yggdra couldn't help but notice that they made a soft hissing sound, and that steam spiraled up from each deep red splash on the stone.

While she was staring, Gulcasa reached out again and clasped her bloody palm in his, holding their joined hands over the dip in the dais.

Instantly, Yggdra let out an involuntary wail and jerked her arm back. His blood was—it was hot, it was _boiling, _it was sending a whole new kind of agony through her already injured arm. What manner of being _was _he that his blood was hot enough to burn?

But she couldn't pull loose, and Gulcasa mercilessly wrenched her forward again, tightening his grip on her. His hand was much larger than hers, and stronger, maybe even strong enough to crush her fingers completely if he so desired. His expression was stony, his breathing erratic as he watched their mingled blood dripping—_pouring—_onto the dais, filling the hollow and sending dark red rivers spilling into the carved glyph; it seemed he, too, was in pain. But it was _his _blood, he didn't seem to be bothered by its heat, and Yggdra felt like her hand was on fire, like her flesh would wither to a black and twisted thing devoid of any use or feeling unless she got free _right away._

She tugged at it feebly, but Gulcasa wouldn't let go. "Please…" she moaned, feeling stinging tears build in her eyes. "Please, please, _stop… _please… I can't take it… it hurts… please…"

"Shut up," Gulcasa growled, tight strain in his voice.

Yggdra dropped to her knees, sobbing. Gulcasa hissed, his brow tightening, and remained standing.

She didn't know how much time passed. It could have been minutes; it could have been hours. She only knew that in the end, Gulcasa finally, _finally _released her, flinging her away from the altar to sprawl on a blank square of stone.

Somehow the entire glyph had filled and was glowing an eerie, pulsing scarlet. So was the blood in the shallow basin they had filled. Gulcasa stood behind the dais now, his eyes glowing amber, his injured hand still held forward with his fingertips in the blood they'd spilled. His lips were moving, but whatever he said was too low for Yggdra to hear.

The blood pulsed with a sound like a heartbeat magnified a hundred times. Yggdra stared, transfixed. It pulsed again, and Gulcasa let out a sudden gasp, his eyes opening wide.

_"Agh!"_

He collapsed to his knees, clutching the altar, every muscle in his body taut with his head flung back so he was facing the ceiling.

"Agh…! Ugh… _agh…!"_

"Your Majesty?!" One of his bodyguards stepped forward from the mass of knights, pale-faced and worried. "Your Majesty, what's wrong?!"

The blood—no, the _room—_pulsed a third time. Yggdra shivered. Gulcasa was trembling violently now, and panting hard, closing his eyes.

"I… can feel…" His voice trailed off for a moment. "I… I… ah… _agh… _I…"

"Your Majesty…?"

"It's…" Unbelievably, Gulcasa was _smiling, _for all that he looked to be in terrible pain. "It's… working…… He's…"

A murmur ran through the ranks of soldiers. Gulcasa let out another sudden cry and curled down, his back arching as his scythe clattered to the ground.

"Y-your Majesty…" The bodyguard ventured a few steps closer.

"Don't… worry…" Gulcasa raised his head slowly to look at the man; Yggdra saw iron resolve in his eyes. "I can… bear it… for… as long… as I have to… _ugh…_ and this… is bound to be… quite long…"

"…………" The knight hesitated. "Your Majesty, is there anything we can do?"

Very slowly, Gulcasa shook his head, then made an impatient gesture with his uninjured left hand towards Yggdra, who started, flinching backwards. "Just… get… _her… _out of here… We don't… need her… right now… and I don't… want to see her face… while I'm… doing this…"

"Yes, sir," the man said, and delicately crossed the glyph to where Yggdra was, pulled her into a standing position, and rushed her away, up both flights of stairs, and into the open.

Many of the soldiers Gulcasa had dispatched here, it turned out, were standing with the dragons, watching the temple anxiously.

"How goes it in there?" one knight, wearing the embellished armor of an officer, asked worriedly.

"It seems to be working, but…" Gulcasa's bodyguard shook his head. "His Majesty is… in excruciating pain right now. After all, he's… forcing his body to do something that mortal bodies just aren't meant to do. He swears he can stand it, but it's… so hard to watch."

The officer's eyes softened. "His Majesty is a brave man, and he's stronger than any of us," he said, sounding almost proud. "I'm sure he'll be just fine."

"Anyway… His Majesty doesn't want the girl around. Tie her up on the scaffold and wait for further orders. We'll take care of His Majesty. We're leaving as soon as this is over, and I can't say I'm not happy to leave this dismal place behind." The dragon knight pushed Yggdra over to the officer. "Fix up her arm, too—we don't want her bleeding out in case we need her down there again."

"Yes, sir." The officer accepted Yggdra with a salute and a firm nod.

---

Even so, by the time the canyon filled with the clamor of battle, Yggdra had lost enough blood that she was on the edge of delirium, and completely exhausted. To make matters that much worse, the clash of blade on blade and the yells of soldiers were giving her a pounding headache. By the time it all died down, she was ready to drop, and would've if she hadn't been strung up on the tall, swordlike cross crowning Aries' monument.

Running feet drew closer to her, ringing first on stone and then on the wood stairs leading up the scaffold. But it was the _voice _that got her attention, that had her struggling to open her heavy eyes for a glimpse, to be sure she wasn't already asleep.

"Princess?! Princess, can you hear me?!"

Yggdra raised her head painfully, trying to clear her blurry vision as a familiar, anxious face swam into view. "Ros…well…"

He sighed, looking painfully relieved. "Thank the gods. Here—I'll have you down from there in just a moment…" With that, he pulled out his beltknife and sawed the ropes binding her apart. With no support, Yggdra slumped; Roswell reached out and caught her, holding her tightly.

Yggdra felt tears coming and buried her face in Roswell's shoulder, breathing in the faint scent of roses that always seemed to envelop him, pressing her cheek against his silky hair. "Roswell…"

"You must have been so afraid," he murmured. "Don't worry. It's over now."

More running footsteps approached; Roswell loosened his death grip on her just enough to turn to face whoever was coming. "The Princess is safe," he called. "Our hope is restored!"

"Aw, jeez… I think I lost a couple years off my life there! I was sure we were too late!"

Yggdra knew that voice. She peeked up to give Milanor a weary smile; she didn't think she could make the effort of speaking right now, but she wanted to reassure him as best she could anyway.

"Hey, everybody, Yggdra's okay!"

A cheer went up through the gathered forces. Straining her eyes, Yggdra saw Durant and his men at the back of the group, and Nietzsche up at the front with Milanor's lovable band of ruffians and Roswell's attendants. But—who were those archers? And surely that was Russell the Astral Fencer, wasn't it?

"We have to get out of here as soon as we can. There may still be Imperial forces lurking about," Roswell said, sounding concerned. "But I don't think she's strong enough to move on her own."

"Give her here—I can carry her," Milanor offered, holding out his arms. "We can't put her with Durant's guys, we'll need them to clear out anyone we run into. And you're going to be busy concentrating on your magic. I can get around with her on my back. Here."

After a slight pause, Roswell helped Yggdra over to Milanor, who knelt down so that she could lean against him, putting her arms in a loose, weak grip around his neck. "Just hang on for a while," he told her, trying to peek over his shoulder so he could talk to her. "I'll try not to bump you too bad." With that, he put his arms around the backs of her knees, holding her on.

"Let's get moving, everyone," Russell—it was definitely him—called. "There're sure to be more troops around here somewhere. This was too easy. We have to try to be inconspicuous."

With that, the Royal Army set off, back up around the canyon.

Yggdra rested her cheek on the wolf pelt Milanor liked to use as a cape, watching Roswell through bleary eyes. Feeling her stare, he turned once or twice to give her a worried-looking smile, but didn't say anything. She understood. They had to stay quiet.

However, they'd only made it to the first bend when there was a sudden roar behind them. Yggdra's chest gave an unwelcome jolt. No…

"Bad news—they're after us!" someone called.

"Those troops…" she heard Durant say. "It's the Imperial Army's main force!"

Milanor turned, giving Yggdra a momentary glimpse of scarlet flags flying and knights on dragons charging in the distance. "Aw, crap! Gulcasa's with them!"

As if on cue, Yggdra heard his voice echo through the canyon, firm with fierce warning: "Royal Army… I will not let you escape!"

"Gah…" Milanor turned back towards their army. "We don't stand a chance like this!"

"We must withdraw," Durant called, hefting his lance into the air. "Quickly!"

However, they hadn't gotten far before a soldier ran from the front towards Milanor, calling for them to stop. "S-sir! Imperial forces have been sighted ahead!"

_"What?!" _Milanor demanded, swinging around with a curse. "Not now…!"

"It's the Valkyrie Aegina's unit!" the soldier announced, panting.

Milanor swore badly. "Gulcasa's right on our heels… we're trapped!"

Through a gap in the troops, Yggdra caught a brief glimpse of Aegina, standing triumphant with the troops Gulcasa had assigned to her.

"I knew there was a reason why General Emilia retreated," she was saying with a vindictive grin. "You've done well to make it here, Royal Army, but this is as far as you come! We have you now!"

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, _shit!" _Milanor shook his head. "We've gotta get rid of Aegina before Gulcasa catches up…"

"We will do our best," Durant called.

"Leave it to Nietzsche," the Undine girl announced cheerfully.

More clamor. Yggdra moaned, closed her eyes, and clung to Milanor. Her arm was throbbing again, and her scalded hand still felt like it was on fire. She was sure she would bear a burn scar if they got out of this alive.

_"Shit,_ we're in a tight spot…" she heard Milanor growl. "Dammit, isn't there _any _way out?"

"Master Milanor, someone's coming this way!" a soldier near them announced.

"More of them?!" A short pause. "Hey, wait! That's Elena!"

A girl's voice called out to their forces, one Yggdra recognized from somewhere but couldn't place. "Master Milanor! Sorry I'm late…"

"Better late than never, Elena!" Milanor yelled back, sounding relieved. "Good to see you safe! Hey, everybody! Elena's here! Hey, Elena, help us take out Aegina's unit!"

"Understood!" the girl named Elena called. "I'll snipe her from the cliff—just hold out until then!"

"Can do," Milanor replied.

Still more clamor. Milanor continued to watch the canyon wall, which allowed Yggdra a nice view of what lay behind them—Gulcasa's knights advancing steadily. Gulcasa was not only with them, he was leading them on foot, a wild look in his eyes and his still-bloody scythe in his hands. The sight sent chills running all over Yggdra's weary body.

A sudden shriek split the air, followed by a sudden roar of soldiers' voices.

"Nice shot, Elena!" Milanor yelled up at the cliff, grinning. "They're panicking!"

"Now's your chance, Master Milanor…" Elena began to say.

_"Aegina!" _came Gulcasa's furious yell from behind them. "Damn it, what did you do to her?!"

"Awww, _shit!" _Milanor started to push forward. "Come on, don't just stand there! We've gotta get out of here, and fast!"

"We're almost to the pass!" Durant called as the army started to move. "Once we're there we can slow them down by blocking it! Hurry!"

Yggdra gritted her teeth and clung to Milanor and consciousness. She felt dizzy, like she was going to faint, and the jarring caused by Milanor's peltering run jolted her arm horribly. Still, she wouldn't give in and close her eyes. If she was going to meet her death, she would meet it like a true member of the Royal family, with her eyes open to the very last.

_"Agh…!"_

The sudden scream from behind brought the entire Royal Army to a screeching halt.

Gulcasa collapsed mid-run, clutching his chest.

"Your Majesty?!" His bodyguards flew to him, hovering anxiously at his sides.

"Agh… _agh…!" _Gulcasa tore frantically at his armor, throwing his hauberk hard to the side. "Ugh… it… it burns… I… I-I can't…!"

"Your Majesty, what's wrong?!" The previously charging line of knights milled in distress, not knowing what to do with their leader disabled. "Is it… the ritual…? Is Brongaa…"

"Ugh… _ugh…" _Gulcasa coughed. Yggdra saw blood splatter along the ground.

The closest knight dismounted as his Emperor bent double, retching, and pulled his long scarlet hair back from his face. "He's… he's burning up! His Majesty is ill!"

"Everyone, form ranks!" Gulcasa's other bodyguard called, raising his scythe high. "Protect His Majesty at all costs!"

At this, Milanor turned towards the Royal Army, the entirety of which was watching with stunned expressions. "H-hey! I don't think we're gonna get a better opportunity than this! Move! Move, while they still can't figure out what they're doing! We've gotta get out of here while we still can!"

As their forces moved into full retreat, Yggdra glanced back one last time at Gulcasa and his knights, but before she could decide what to make of the situation, her body rebelled, her grip on the world loosened, and her consciousness hazed. With Milanor and her army carrying her to safety, she blacked out, passing into dreamless, exhausted sleep.

:to be concluded:


	8. Epilogue

Shades of Gray

See disclaimer in the prologue

"Yggdra…? _Yggdra?"_

"Ugh…" She opened her eyes weakly to see that Milanor was standing next to her, looking down at her with worried eyes. "Where… am I…?"

Milanor heaved a huge sigh, putting a hand to his chest. _"God, _Yggdra, you have _got _to stop doing that. You scared the shit out of me—out of _all _of us." He looked over his shoulder. "Hey, Roswell! She's up."

"What?" Yggdra, struggling into a sitting position, saw Roswell jerking upright where he sat in a chair in the corner. "Oh—Princess! You're awake—we've been so worried…"

Yggdra held out her hands as Roswell rushed forward; Milanor stepped back with a little smile as the two of them embraced. "I'm so sorry…"

"Hey, what happened back there?" Milanor asked. "Back at Flarewerk, I mean. You were talking kind of funny before you passed out. Scared us all half to death, too. All we could do was take you back here to Karona to rest. Mind telling Roswell and me what you meant?"

Yggdra took a deep breath. "Do you remember… how I told you that Rosary appeared to me back in Welheim, just before Joachim crowned me Queen?"

Roswell nodded gravely. "Yes…"

"Back there, the Holy Sword started to resonate strangely, and I could hear her innermost thoughts in my mind. And just now…" She shook her head slowly, confused. "In Flarewerk, I mean, when we were fighting Gulcasa… something similar happened. All through the time we were fighting, I could hear what Gulcasa was thinking. Those thoughts… they resonated in my heart, and I…" Yggdra looked down and pressed a hand to her chest, feeling pain beginning to throb there again.

"While you fought… you were crying," Roswell said softly, reaching out to touch her cheek. "Was… that why…?"

She leaned against his palm and nodded. "Yes… it was so horrible. He didn't _know. _At least, not until he actually did it… In Gulcasa's mind, releasing Brongaa was the only way to save Bronquia. He would resurrect the dragon by sacrificing himself, and Brongaa would destroy our army, protect his land. All of us know that Brongaa would have destroyed everything. And through that last fight, he was in so much pain… in my heart I could feel him screaming. I'll never forget that sound." She shuddered.

"Yggdra…"

"I understand now," she said softly, sadly. "What Kylier was trying to tell me back at Ishnad… the things I saw and felt when I was traveling with the Imperial Army. At the time… maybe I just didn't _want _to understand. I think I still wanted to be a crusader against evil, that I was letting my desire for revenge cloud my judgment. This was never a battle of good and evil, or even of necessity, most of the time. It was just a battle of our justice against theirs."

Milanor and Roswell watched as she frowned and teased the bedcovers between her fingers.

"The Holy Sword represents justice," she continued at last. "It represents the justice of the Kingdom, and those who wield it are bound to deliver justice. But maybe our justice isn't always what's _truly _just. All those people… I might have struck them down to protect our Kingdom, but they were also fighting for something they believed in with all their hearts… enough to die for it. Gulcasa and his people were no different from us. I've done something horrible. I've killed a good man." Yggdra buried her face in her hands. "If only… if only I'd been able to set aside my prejudice, lay down my sword at the right moment, maybe I might have changed things… might have saved him…" She shook her head slowly. "Might have saved all of them. Our people, the citizens of the Empire… the Undines at Embellia… Rosary's forces back in Verlaine… Somewhere it all went wrong. The Holy Sword is sacred, but it's only a sword. No real peace can be achieved with something that can only wound…"

Milanor and Roswell exchanged glances, then looked back to her.

"Well, Yggdra…" Milanor began hesitantly. "You've always used the Holy Sword to solve problems… what if you did the opposite?"

"The… opposite?" Yggdra frowned at him, wiping away tears. "You mean… solving a sword with problems…?"

"Yeah…" Milanor shook his head, blushing and scowling. "I mean… no! Solving problems _without _swords! …Although, I guess if that had been possible, none of this would ever have happened. It's just a thought, though." His voice trailed off into silence, and he looked in another direction, making a face.

"Yggdra." Roswell laid his hands on hers, a patient expression on his face. "No one can go back and change the past. All of us have things we would go back and do over, if we could. You can sit here and blame yourself endlessly, but perhaps what would be better… is to find another way. Don't ever forget the tragedy of this war, or what happened to Gulcasa and the people of Bronquia. For their sake, fight a different kind of battle… the kind that will put an end to pointless struggles like this for all eternity." He smiled at her. "I, for one, will be at your side when you decide to try. I don't doubt that everyone else will do the same."

"Roswell…" She looked at him with wide eyes, touched.

"I understand the way you feel about all this, and your actions regarding Gulcasa," he said in a gentle tone. "…All of them."

Yggdra blushed and broke eye contact, staring down at her hands. "I… thought you'd be angry," she said in a very tiny voice, playing with the sheets.

"No," Roswell replied. She could tell he was smiling. "That was a part of your life you needed to say goodbye to. Gulcasa is gone. It would disgrace his memory to feel bitterness for something you had to do."

Feeling her face heat up further, Yggdra lightly touched her lips, remembering. Gulcasa's had been warm, and had carried the faint taste of blood from which much of the heat had already faded. Despite everything, there'd been… something between them, some kind of pull that had always drawn them together, even in the depths of their hatred. Maybe, just maybe, if it hadn't been for the war and the awful things they'd done to each other, she might have fallen in love with him for precisely the reasons he'd been such a dangerous enemy of her Kingdom.

But she couldn't think about that now.

Casting about for a safer topic of conversation, Yggdra suddenly frowned. "Actually… there's something else that's been bothering me."

"What is it?" Milanor asked, looking relieved. He seemed just as ready as Yggdra to segue from her kiss with the dying Emperor.

"When the two of you… brought me out of the city, I… thought I saw someone else there," Yggdra said slowly, her brow creasing as she tried to remember. "A person… standing just within safe distance of the castle while it burned. A strange-looking person wearing robes. He was… I think he was crying, but I wasn't close enough to really see…"

Milanor also started to frown, getting a troubled expression, but he shook his head.

"No. That couldn't've been. Aside from the Imperials, we were the only people there."

---

As a bleak dawn rose around the ruined city of Flarewerk, a slight figure draped in tattered robes and heavy chains walked along the side of the remains of the castle wall, tracing fingertips through the ash coating the obsidian and brick.

_"What would I wish for now if I saw a shooting star cross the sky?"_

The voice was soft and pure; the song rang through the empty air as the figure continued its careful walk through the wreckage the fire had left behind.

_"The promise we made when we parted ways is always in my heart."_

No one was there to hear. Most of Flarewerk had been decimated when the Royal Army had sacked it, and the few survivors had retreated past the city limits to the mountain strongholds where evacuated civilians and refugees had gathered, mourning the loss of their Emperor, the bright star they'd hoped would guide their future.

_"On nights when I can't sleep, I miss your voice, thinking about the times we used to talk until dawn. Your face shone so brightly as you spoke of your dreams…"_

Why had he come here? Why was he _still _here?

Bronquia's people were not the only ones who grieved this day.

_"You follow your dreams as I watch over you protectively. I held back my tears when you left; I didn't want you to look back. What would I wish for now if I saw a shooting star cross the sky? The promise we made when we parted ways…"_

As he reached what had once been the proud gates to the castle, he trailed off, lapsing into silence.

"…I'm sorry," he said after a long pause. "Gulcasa… I'm sorry for everything…"

He knelt in the ashes, his robes catching on the debris and ripping still further, one hand still on the remains of the wall. Tears were agony, but surely he deserved to feel pain. After what he'd done, surely he deserved far worse than the burning ache in his mutilated eyes.

"…I should never have involved you… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry."

Another long silence. His shoulders shook, and blood-streaked teardrops hit the ashes before him, leaving wide wet spots.

At last, he stood.

"…I dreamed once… of a world without war…" He hesitated. "I was a fool. Nothing… can ever be obtained without conflict, without loss. If this universe is meant to be that way… then I shall change that fate."

He smiled bitterly.

"Alright, my dear Princess… the time has come, I think, to play out the final drama. Come now with your bloodstained hands, to grace the stage where it all began…"

**Owari.**

:Postscript:

This closes out Shades of Gray. To those who actually reviewed this story, thank you. To those who didn't… well. My muses need to have a little talk with you, I believe. I pity your poor foolish souls.

That aside. This story has in part already been told—through Milanor's perspective and the player's, through Chapter 4 of Yggdra Union—but it's the question of what happened on the flip side, with Yggdra and the Imperial Army, that has always really interested me. Somehow I doubt that she spent the entire time knocked out, so what did she experience? How did seeing daily life with the Empire affect her perceptions? Would it have made any difference in the long run if it had?

This is a story about prejudice—namely, Yggdra's prejudice against the Imperial Army, which she inherited from her father and her people, and Gulcasa's prejudice against Yggdra and Fantasinia, which he passes from King Ordene to Yggdra when she becomes his enemy. Yggdra sees here that Gulcasa is a human like any other, with kind and unkind moments, and at the time it only manages to confuse her feelings towards him. Gulcasa acknowledges that Yggdra doesn't understand the full situation, but is unable to keep from hating her even so. Their perceptions of each other are altered, but the full effect of this does not change the ultimate course of their fates, largely because they make no real effort to understand what they see.

Because I know it will get questions: Roswell and Yggdra's relationship. Er… yeah. It is heavily implied that there is something between them because… well, here, there is something between them. Various other pairings are implied (Milanor having some form of affection for Yggdra, Gulcasa and Yggdra's basic and powerful attraction to each other, et cetera), but Roswell and Yggdra are "together" because they turned to each other to deal with the stress of the war. Without Rosary, Roswell has no one else to go to, and he has faith in Yggdra. As for Yggdra, she respects Roswell's expertise in tactical and political situations and has recognized that beneath his pride and his ability to hold grudges forever and a day that he has a sensitive soul and is a total sweetheart once you gain his trust, and is attracted to that. As the world well knows, Gulcasa and Yggdra are my One True Pairing for this game, but Roswell/Yggdra is a pairing I wouldn't mind exploring in more depth someday.

Nessiah also plays a rather major role in this story, for all that he doesn't even appear until the epilogue. Shades of Gray operates largely on the assumption that he had a relationship with Gulcasa that extended past manipulation and tactical assistance; his loss affects Gulcasa greatly and puts the hole in Gulcasa's otherwise iron defenses that Yggdra needs to see the unguarded, human side to him. With this in mind, Nessiah shows up in the epilogue to show that the relationship was not one-sided. And, of course, that what he felt for Gulcasa… well, that's a whole other story in and of itself, and it's hinted at in many things I write, so we shall go into no further detail there.

In case anyone wondered, the song Nessiah sings in the epilogue is "Starry Heavens" by the band Day After Tomorrow. It's better known as the Japanese theme song of the popular RPG Tales of Symphonia. The translation is a version of the one Namco of USA uses with the female characters' hot spring scene, edited slightly to better fit the original Japanese lyrics. (Don't ask.)

In large part, Shades of Gray seems to have accomplished its secondary role of allowing readers to sympathize with Gulcasa and company a little bit more—they're not always as antagonistic as the game makes them seem. No fully three-dimensional character can be.

And turnabout is most definitely fair play.

Thank you, all. Like every other story, this one is for Rau-sama, who knows the "Not evil, just misunderstood" song very, very well. (Don't worry. I understand, if no one else does.)

-Feral Phoenix

June 28, 3:46 AM


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